JACQUES 


THE HOUSE 



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T H E HOUSE: 

A M ANUAL 

OF 

|1 ii nil ^ r c Ij i t e c t it r e : 

on, IIOW TO BUIl.D 

COUNTRY HOUSES AND OUT-BUILDINGS ; 


EMBRACING 

TIIK ORIGIN AND MEANING OF TIIE HOUSE; TIIE AKT OF HOUSE-BUILDING, INCLUI> 
ING PLANNING, STYIE AND CONSTRUCTION; DESIGNS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF 
COTTAGES, FARM-HOUSES, VILLAS AND OUT- BUILDINGS, OF VARIOUS COST 
AND IN THE DIFFERENT STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE, ETC., ETC. ; AND 
AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING RECIPES FOR PAINTS AND WASHES, 

STUCCO, Rot GH-CAST, ETC.; AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR ROOFING, 

BUILDING WITn ROUGH STONE, UNBURNT BRICK. BALLOON- 
FRAMES, AND THE CONCRETE OR GRAVEL WALL. 



With Hummus (Dr in in ;tl i’lans 


By 1). H. JACQUES, 


Author of “The Garden,” “The Farm,” “ 
Do Business,” “ How to "Write,” 


REVISED EDIT 


J^Tew yoRK : 


GEO. E. WOODWARD, No. 191 BROADWAY. 


1868. 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 
D . H. JACQUES, 

Iu the C'erk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 


new YORK : 

EDWARD 0. JENKINS, PRINTER, 
20 NORTH WILLIAM ST. 


nu 

31U i 

t 2 ^ 

PREFACE. 


In this country everybody builds a house — perhaps several of 
them. Everybody, then, should know something about domestic 
architecture, in order to build to the best advantage— to secure 
the largest amount of convenience, comfort, and beauty in his 
dwelling which his means and materials will permit. It has been 
our object, in the preparation of this manual, to promote the dif- 
fusion of this needed knowledge among the people. 

The works of the lamented Downing, with all their acknowl- 
edged imperfections, have done much to enlighten the under- 
standings and improve the tastes of our people on this subject. 
Much of the improvement which has taken place in the rural 
architecture of this country, within the last fifteen years, is due 
to their influence. But their size and cost have been a bar to 
their circulation, and confined their direct action upon the public 
mind within a comparatively narrow circle. The same remark 
will apply with more or less force to the excellent works of Cal- 
vert Yaux, Wheeler, Cleveland and Backus Brothers, and other 
recent architectural writers. 

We have aimed here at a wider, if not a stronger, influence. 
We have condensed into this little volume all that the great ma- 
jority of readers will care to find in it, and all that they are pre- 
pared to appreciate and profit by ; and have placed the whole 
'within 'the reach of every man in America who will ever have 
occasion to erect a house, a barn, a stable, or a piggery, by placing 
it at a price which no one will be too poor to pay. We aim, by 
these means, at a universal circulation and almost unlimited 
usefulness. 


VI 


Preface 


The plan and execution of our work will speak for themselves 
We are fully aware of its imperfections, but hope a generous pub- 
lic will not allow them to blind their eyes to the merits which it 
will, we trust, he acknowledged to possess. We leave it, with 
full confidence, in their hands. 

In the department of design we have been aided throughout by 
Mr. John Crumly, a competent and reliable architect of this city 
whom we take this occasion to recommend to our readers. 

We are also largely indebted to Mr. F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 
Wall Street, New York, whose designs, duly credited in the body 
of the work, will not fail to command general approval for their 
beauty and perfect adaptation to their purpose. Mr. Graef is a 
man of practical knowledge, good sense, and executive ability, as 
well as a thoroughly educated and skillful artist (being a gradua J e 
of the Prussian Academy in Berlin), and will, we feel sure, gire 
entire satisfaction to any of our patrons who may employ him. 


CONTENTS 


I. — ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE HOUSE. 

The Wigwam and the Tent — The Hut of the African — Origin of the Tent — The 
Ancient Log Cabin — Hall of the Saxon Thegne — How it was Constructed— 
Norman Novelties — Origin of Chimneys and Glass Windows— The Castle, 
etc. — Significance of the House-Meaning of the Various Styles — Expression 
of Individual Character Page 9 

II. -HOUSE-BUILDING. 

Fundamental Principles— Fitness or Utility — Expression of Purpose — Expres- 
sion of Beauty — Considerations Influencing Choice of Site — Healthfulness — 
Convenience of Access — Suitableness of Ground — Altitude — Aspect— Trees, 
etc. — Adoption of a Plan — Importance of having a Matured Plan — Adapta- 
tion of Plan to Site — Pecuniary Means as Influencing a Plan — Wants and 
Tastes of the Family to be Considered— General Form — Economical View— 
The Circle and the Octagon — Square Houses— Advantages of Irregularity- 
Aspect of Eooms — Arrangement of Eooms — Labor-Saving — Convenience — 
Comfort— Provision for Guests— Using the Best Eooms Eecommended — 
Sleeping Apartments- Bath-Boom — Pantries, Closets, Passages, etc. — Chim- 
neys and Stairs — Style of Architecture — Should be the Natural Outgrowth ol 
the Character, Institutions, etc., of a People— No American Style yet Origi- 
nated - Eeasons Why — Promise of the Future- -Classification of Styles Cir- 
cumstances which should Guide in the Choice of a Style— Climate as Influ- 
encing Architectural Style— Southern and Northern Houses Contrasted— Sit- 
uation to be Considered— Plan and Size - Materials in their Eelation to Style 
— A Hint in reference to Local Truth— Materials— Wood— Stone — Brick- 
Concrete— Miscellaneous Details— Cellars — Chimneys — Modes of Warming 
Houses — The open Fire-place -Grates— Stoves — Hot-Air Furnaces, etc. — 
Ventilation— Exterior Color, Interior Color, Wall Paper, etc.— Eoofing— 
Stucco -Eough-Cast— Drainage— Trees, Vines, etc.— Errors and Absurd- 
ities 14 


ID.— COTTAGES OF ONE STORY. 

Preliminary Eemarks — A Log Cabin — A Hexagon Plan— Plan for Three Eooms 
etc.— A Southern Cottage — Another Cheap Cottage Plan — Plan for Addition* 
—An Extempore House — Estimates— Verandas — Plans — The Scale — Doors, 
etc. — Eats in Cellars — Outside Painting— Bath-Booms 45 


viii ' Contents. 

IV.— STORY-AND-A-HALF COTTAGES. 

Preliminary Remarks— Plans for a Small Cottage — An Italian Cottage— An 
English Cottage Plan— Building for Show — A Suburban Cottage— A Gothic 
Cottage — Attic Rooms — Architectural Finery — A New Method of Ventila- 
tion— Cedar Closets— A Symmetrical Cottage— A Semi-Southern Cottage- 
Sinks— Chimneys— Speaking Tubes— Beauty and Economy . Page 57 

V.— HOUSES OF TWO STORIES. 

A Gothic Cottage — A Country Parsonage — “ Fruitland” Cottage— Mr. Mann’ 
Octagon Plan— A Southern House— A Square Cottage— A Stone Country 
House— Cement for Stopping Joints — A Circular House — Ornamental Roofs 
—A Swiss Cottage — Importance of Arrangement— A Double Cottage ... 73 

VI.— FARM-HOUSES. 

What a Farm-House Should be— Mr. Graef’s Farm-House— A Farm-House 
Plan 99 


VII.— VILLAS. 

What is a Villa ? Downing’s Definition — What it Should be — A small Villa in 
the Italian Style — A Brick Villa— A Gothic. Villa— A Picturesque Villa— A 
Southern Villa— An Octagon Villa 105 

VIII.— BARNS, AND OTHER OUT-BUILDINGS. 

Preliminary Remarks — Lewis F. Allen’s Barn — Mr. Chamberlain’s Octagon 
Barn— Shelter Cheaper than Fodder — Elevators in Barns — Mr. Beckwith’s 
Octagon Barn — A Circular Barn — A Side-Hill Barn — Stables — An Octagon 
Poultry-House— A Piggery — An Ashery and Smoke-House — An Ice-House 
— An Apiary — A Play-House — A Rustic Garden-House 129 

IX.— CHURCHES AND SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

A Village Church — A Choice of Elevations — A School-House — Remarks. . 158 

APPENDIX. 

Building with Rough Stones— Hollow Walls— Building with Unburnt Brick- 
Dr. Buchanan on Cellars— Recipes for Paints, etc.— Roofing— Concrete or 
Gravel Walls— Specifications— Balloon Frames— How to Build Cisterns— A 
Cheap Ice-Room 159 


THE HOUSE 


I. 

ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE HOUSE. 

Much of the character of every inau may be read in his house. — Downing. 

I. — THE WIGWAM AND THE TENT. 

S “the groves were God’s first tem- 
ples,” so, undoubtedly, were they 
the earliest dwellings of man. The 
dense foliage of the trees afforded 
protection against the too fervid 
rays of the noonday sun, and their 
hollow trunks, and the caves among 
the rocks which they overhung, 
served as a shelter from the fury of 
the storm. By twining together 
the tops of saplings growing near 
each other, and filling in the spa- 
ces between them with branches 
broken from other trees, arbors or bough-houses were readily 
constructed. These, in the Eden-like climates of the East, 
where the race is supposed to have originated, probably sat- 
isfied the wants of the men of the first ages. 

At a later day, and in a less genial climate, dwellings werG 
constructed by cutting down trees and placing them, in a circu- 
lar form, with their tops leaning against each other and fasten- 
ing them together, branches being interwoven and the inter- 
stices filled with clay. Of this description is the wigwam of 
1 * 



10 


The House. 


the North American savage. In other cases a frame- work of 
poles was covered with strips of bark or skins of animals. The 
dome-like mnd huts of some of the African tribes, with holes 
two or three feet high for dDors, through which one must enter 
“on all-fours,” advance in point of architecture one step further. 

Out of the necessities of a pastoral life grew the invention of 
tents, which were at first made of the skins of animals and af- 
terward of felt and various kinds of cloth. On each green and 
chosen spot these portable habitations could be spread in a 
moment, and as readily removed. Even at the present day, 

The Arab band, 

Across the sand, 

Still bear their dwellings light, 

And ’neath the skies 
Their tents arise, 

Like spirits of the night.. 


II.— THE LOG CABIN. 

The inventor of the rectangular log-house should have been 
immortalized; but, alas! he is unknown, and the date of the 



first dwelling of this kind is nowhere recorded. However 
long ago that event may have occurred, the foundations of the 


Origin and Meaning. 


11 


art of domestic architecture were then securely established. 
The first oblong house, covered by a sloping roof, whether its 
walls were constructed of logs placed horizontally one above the 
other, in the American backwoods style, or of upright posts, os 
shown in the foregoing engraving, contained the germ of the 
cottage, the mansion, and the villa of to-day. 

III.— THE SAXON HALL. 

Speaking of the Saxons, Turner, in his “Early History of 
Domestic Architecture in England,” says: 

“ Without mechanical skill to work the quarries made by 
the Romans, and while the habitations of the mass of the peo- 
ple were mud or wooden huts of one room only, in the middle 
of which the fire was kindled, the Saxon thegne built his hall 
from the woods of his demesne by the labor of his bondsmen. 
It was thatched with straw or reeds or roofed with wooden 
shingles. Its plan was little more than its name implied — a ca- 
pacious apartment, which in the daytime was adapted to the 
patriarchal hospitality of the owner, and formed at night a sort 
of stable for his servants, to whose rude accommodation their 
master’s was not much superior in an adjoining chamber. The 
fire was kindled in the center of the hall, the smoke making 
its way out through an opening in the roof immediately above 
the hearth, or by the door, windows, and eaves of thatch. 
The lord and his ‘hearthmen 5 — a significant appellation 
given to his most familiar retainers — sat by the same fire at 
which their repast was cooked, and at night retired to share 
the same dormitory, which served them also as a council 
chamber.” 

The Normans introduced little change in the general plans 
of dwellings, the chief room and single bedchamber still pre- 
vailing, even in regal residences. It was in details chiefly that 
architectural novelties betokened French influence. Chimneys 
were generally unknown till the fifteenth century, although a 
few examples occur earlier. Shutters and canvas, instead of 
glazed windows, continued in general use in dwelling-houses 


12 


The House. 


to the reign of Henry III., notwithstanding painted glass for 
church windows was not uncommon in the twelfth century. 

Of the castles, monasteries, and moated granges of a later 
day it is not necessary to speak. Their general forms are 
made familiar to all by means of pictures and engravings of 
all descriptions, scattered through our picture-galleries and 
books. Trie manor-house and the villa of the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries form the basis of many a modern design. 

Jg'; IV. — SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOUSE. 

We have hinted at, rather than described, some of the changes 
through |yhich the dwelling-house has reached its present ex- 
ternal form arid internal arrangement ; hut our brief statement 
will serve- to indicate- the fact, that each change has resulted 
from a corresponding change in the habits, wants, and tastee 
of the builder. The house of each epoch forms a chapter in 
the world’s history. In the wigwam of the savage we recog- 
nize an expression of the rude life of the forest-born hunter, 
lacking the refinement which would require, as well as the 
skill which might provide, anything beyond a mere shelter. 
The tents of the nomadic tribes are not less significant of 
their habits and modes of existence — 

While ou from plain to plain they led their flocks, 

In search of clearer spring and fresher field. 

So have the log cabin, the hall of the Saxon thegne , the feu- 
dal castle, the monastery, the grange, the manor-house, the cot- 
tage, and the villa, their readily comprehended meanings. 
Each was called into existence by the exigences of the social 
period to which it belongs, and reveals the principal features in 
the life of its first inhabitants. 

“The different styles of domestic architecture, ” as Downing 
truly remarks, “the Roman, the Italian, the Swiss, the Vene- 
tian, the Rural Gothic, are nothing more than expressions of 
national character which have, through long use, become per- 
manent. Thus the gay and sunny temperament of the south o f 


Origin and Meaning. 


13 


Europe is well expressed in the light balconies, the grouped 
windows, the open arcades, and the statue and vase bordered 
terraces of the Venetian and Italian villas; the homely yet 
strong and quaint character of the Swiss in their broad-roofed, 
half rude, and curiously constructed cottages ; the domestic 
virtues and the love of rural beauty and sc^hisj on can not 
possibly be better expressed than in the^English cot&tee, with 
its many upward pointing gables, its • intitj^te tracery, Its spa- 
cious bay windows, and its walls covered ^i^h vin0A and 
flowering shrubs.” If 

Domestic architecture is not onl^- capable expr^gii|g the 
characters and customs of natk)ns^nd*ep^^s;^indij)(hial di- 
versities of opinion, feeling, t^st^and*^feide§^f ^Jh/fnay be 
and are also clearly embodied in theHqj^nan Mere 

utilitarianism expresses itself hi a square box-like 

house, with walls and roof builfr^only to defetfc the inmates 
against cold and heat ; windows intesd^eKfor nothing but to 
admit the light and exclude the air; and chimneys constructed 
only to carry off the smoke. A love of ornament and show, 
unguided by either sound judgment or cultivated taste, give us 
all sorts of absurd and incongruous combinations of styles ; 
build cottages in the form of villas and villas like castles of the 
middle ages ; and set all the laws of fitness and order at defi- 
ance. Good sense, a true love of the beautiful, refinement, cul- 
ture, and domestic habits are equally sure, under favorable cir- 
cumstances, to make their impress upon the walls of the dwelling- 
house. Hospitality smiles in ample parlors; home virtues 
dwell in cosy fireside family rooms ; intellectuality is seen in 
well-stocked libraries, and a dignified love of leisure and repose 
in cool and spacious verandas. 

Much of the character of every man, it is truly said, may be 
read in his house. If he has molded it ; leading features from 
the foundation, it will give a clew to a large part of his charac- 
ter. If he lias taken it from the hands of another, it will, in its 
internal details and use, show at a glance something of the daily 
thoughts and life of the family that inhabits it. 


14 


The House. 


II. 

HOUSE-BUILDING. 


He who improves the dwellings of a people, in relation to their comforts, habits, and mora'w, 
makes a benignant and lasting reform at the very foundations of society . — Village and Farm 
Cottages. 

I.— FUNDAMENTAL PEINCIPLES. 

AVLNXx traced the dwelling-house to its 
origin, and pointed out the significance of 
its various forms, we shall now, before 
presenting the designs and descriptions 
which form the main body of our work, 
proceed to lay before the reader a few 
practical hints and suggestions on the 
general subject of house-building. These 
hints and suggestions will necessarily be 
briefly expressed ; hut their importance 
must not be measured by the space they 
occupy. 

We have little to do here with the 
theory of architecture ; but there are two 
or three fundamental principles involved in house-building 
which we wish, at the outset, distinctly to impress upon the 
reader’s mind. 

1. Adaptation to Use . — In erecting a building of any kind, 
the first thing to he considered, and the last to be lost sight of, 
is the use to which it is to be appropriated. Adaptation to this 
use must not be sacrificed to anything else. The plan and con- 
struction of a dwelling-house, for instance, must be quite dif- 
ferent from those of a church edifice or a barn ; because its pur- 
pose and uses are different. For the same reason, a country 
residence should not resemble a city dwelling, and a farm- 



House-L>uilding. 


15 


house should be unlike the cottage of the mechanic. And the 
law of fitness applies to all the details of a house as well as to 
its general form. It should be our guide in the arrangement 
of rooms; in the disposition of doorr,, windows, stairs, and 
chimneys ; and in the provisions made for warming and venti- 
lation. Adaptation to climate, situation, and the condition and 
means of the proprietor falls under the same head. Let it be 
remembered, then, that this principle of fitness , or adaptation 
to use , lies at the foundation of all satisfactory house-building. 
It will be more fully illustrated as we proceed. 

2. Expression of Purpose. — But it is not enough that a build- 
ing be planned with strict reference to the uses to which it is 
to be devoted. Truthfulness, which should run through all our 
works, as well as our words, demands that its purpose shall be 
expressed in its construction — that a church, for instance, shall 
not require a label to inform us of its ecclesiastic character, and 
that a dwelling-house shall be known as such at a glance. This 
principle, strange as it may seem, is frequently violated. 
Church edifices are made to look like barns, dwelling-houses 
are built bn the model of a Grecian temple, and we sometimes 
see stables which may be mistaken, at the first glance, for farm 
cottages. 

“ The prominent features conveying expression of purpose in 
dwelling-houses,” Downing says, “ are the chimneys, the win- 
dows, and the porch, veranda, or piazza; and for this reason, 
whenever it is desired to raise the character of a cottage or a 
villa above mediocrity, attention should be first bestowed on 
those portions of the building.” Loudon says: “In every 
human habitation the chimney-tops should be conspicuous ob- 
jects, because they are its essential characteristics. They dis- 
tinguish apartments destined for human beings from those de- 
signed for lodging cattle.” First, then, build fitting habitations 
for yourself and family ; and, second, let this fitness be clearly 
expressed in their external features. 

3. Manifestation of Beauty.— A house may be strictly 
adapted to its uses and clearly express its purpose, and yet be a 


16 


The House. 


very unsatisfactory dwelling for a person of taste and culture, 
and a perpetual blemish in the landscape. It may have com- 
fortable rooms, well distributed in relation to each other and 
their uses ; windows, doors, chimneys, etc., of the proper size 
and in their proper places; and air, water, and warmth well 
provided for, and yet make a very unsatisfactory impression. 
The sentiment of beauty may find no expression in it. The 
windows may be mere holes in the wall, closed by glazed sashes, 
and the chimneys unsightly heaps of brick. This lack of all 
sentiment — this devotion to mere literal utility — is too frequent- 
ly displayed in rural house-building in this country. It will 
disappear as taste and culture advance, and the love of the 
beautiful, inherent in every man and woman, is called out and 
developed. Let the reader bear in mind, then, the fact, that 
every house, however humble, should and may be character- 
ized by these three qualities — 

1. Adaptation to Use; 

2. Expression of Purpose ; and, 

3. Manifestation of Beauty. 

II.- CHOICE OF A SITE. 

In selecting a site for a country house, many circumstances 
should be taken into consideration. First among these, in 
point of importance, is 

1. Healthfullness . — Ho combination of advantages can com- 
pensate the lack of a salubrious atmosphere. Such a defect, 
unless its causes come clearly within the purchaser’s control, 
should be considered fatal. The vicinity of stagnant swamps 
and marshes; the borders of sluggish streams; and all situa- 
tions where the soil is too retentive of moisture and can not be 
easily and thoroughly drained, should be carefully avoided. 
A house in such a situation is no less uncomfortable than un 
healthful, being continually damp and chilly. 

Elevated grounds in the immediate vicinity of extensiv( 
swamps and marshes, especially if in the direction of prevail- 
ing winds, are liable to be quite as much affected by the main- 


Hous k-Building. 17 

rious air as the low grounds themselves, and should be shunned 
for the same reason. 

Next in importance to good air is pure water ; and one should 
never adopt a site for a dwelling-house without having satisfied 
himself that an abundant supply of this essential element cau 
be readily procured. The importance of this point, in its bear- 
ings upon health and comfort, are sadly underrated by the great 
majority of our people. It should be universally known that 
many serious and dangerous diseases may be traced to the use 
of impure water. In regions where the water is universally 
“hard” or limy, rain water properly filtered should be used 
for drinking and cooking, as well as for washing. 

2. Convenience of Access . — In many cases nearness to one’s 
place of business, or to the railway station or steamboat land- 
ing, has naturally considerable influence in determining the 
choice of a lot. This circumstance should not, however, have 
too much weight. An additional quarter of a mile added to 
the tri-daily walk of a man of sedentary employments may be 
an advantage rather than otherwise ; and often a much better 
site can be obtained for the same amount of money by fore- 
going the slight advantages of a more central locality. 

Where mere business motives may be left out of the account, 
the tastes and habits of the family will have a controlling in- 
fluence. One will seek the frequented street or highway, 
while another will choose a quiet lane or an out-of-the-way 
nook. 

It is not necessary, as many seem to suppose, that a farm-house 
or the residence of a man of leisure should be close to the 
highway. A sufficient distance from it to avoid the noise and 
dust, and secure privacy and quiet, is far preferable; but at 
the same time, unless one desires to cut himself off from all in- 
tercourse with the world, his house should be easy of access. 

3. Suitableness of Ground . — The cost of building, digging 
cellars and wells, etc., is greatly^nfiuenced by the nature of the 
ground, which must, therefore, always enter into the account. 
It sometimes costs more to prepare the grounds for building 


18 


The House. 


than to build the house. This is well enough when advant- 
ages are secured which really warrant the outlay; but the cir- 
cumstance should have its due weight in determining one’s 
choice. 

The adaptation of the surrounding soil to the purpose of cul- 
ture and the growth of trees may be considered under the 
same head. A good garden plot in the vicinity of the house is 
very desirable, but we find little soil in this country that may 
not easily be brought to the desired state of fertility, although 
originally what is called poor. 

4. Altitude . — A somewhat elevated site has many advant- 
ages — beauty of prospect, salubrity and dryness of air, facilities 
for drainage, etc. — but is generally comparatively difficult of 
access, and unless sheltered on the north and west by higher 
grounds or by belts of trees, bleak and uncomfortable in win- 
ter. Some valleys, however, are equally bleak, the wind sweep- 
ing through them with a power unknown even on the hill-top. 
Loudon says, that of all varieties of hilly surface, the most de- 
sirable site is where a prominent knoll stands forw r ard from a 
lengthened ridge, and where the latter has a valley with a river 
in front and higher hills rising one above another behind. One 
of the worst sites is the steep uniform side of a hill, closely sur- 
rounded by other hills equally high and steep. 

The style of building you propose to erect (if first decided 
upon) must be considered with reference to this point. A 
plain, low cottage very properly nestles in some quiet nook at 
the base of a hill or ridge, while the more pretending orna- 
mental villa may with equal propriety crown its summit. 

5. Aspect . — The choice of an aspect should be determined 
mainly by local and climatic considerations ; a free play for the 
cooling breeze being essential in one place, and a shelter from 
wintry winds exceedingly desirable in another. In all climates 
we should, if possible, secure a J>arrier either of higher grounds 
or thick belts of trees (evergreens are best) on the side of the 
house looking in the direction from which violent storms most 
frequently come. The north side of a high hill or ridge, where 


House-Building. 


19 


tike direct rays of the sun would be excluded for a large portion 
of the time, is entirely unfit for a building site, sunlight being 
everywhere essential to health and comfort. In a northern 
climate, a southern or southeastern exposure with sheltering 
hills on the north is generally preferred. 

In reference to the main points from which it is seen, and 
the avenues by which it is approached, a house should be so 
placed, if practicable, as to present an agreeable appearance, 
being neither too closely screened nor too much exposed. 

6. Trees, etc . — A grove or belt of well-grown forest trees, to 
serve as a shelter and a basis for future operations in planting, 
adds greatly to the value of a site ; indeed, so important do we 
consider this point, that we should make it an essential one in 
our own case. But such situations are not always readily 
found, and some would, doubtless, prefer to plant their own 
trees, even when they can not hope to live long enough to see 
them in their fully developed beauty. 

There are many other objects which it is desirable to in- 
clude in one’s grounds, when practicable, without sacrificing 
other and more important considerations, such as a clear run- 
ning stream, a sheet of water in repose, a picturesque ledge of 
rock, a shaded, naiad-haunted ravine, etc. ; but these are not 
generally included in a village lot, and do not come within the 
reach of all. Let each secure whatever of beauty and comfort 
he can in his house and its surroundings, and “learn therewith 
to be content.” 


III.— ADOPTION OF A PLAN. 

No man should commence the erection of even the smallest 
cottage without having previously adopted a Avell digested and 
fully matured plan. It is not enough that he may have a gener- 
al idea of the form and size of the building he purposes to erect. 
All the details of its internal arrangement — the size and sit- 
uation of the various rooms, halls, closets, pantry, etc., and the 
exact place of stairs, chimneys, doors, and windows, should all bo 
determined before the first stake is driven to mark its outlines 


20 


The House. 


upon the ground If this course be not adopted, serious and 
expensive mistakes are almost sure to be made, and money 
wasted in needless alterations. If you do not know what you 
want, you are not prepared to build, and should wait till your 
necessities and tastes have assumed definite forms. "While your 
house is yet only a paper cottage or villa it may easily be 
changed to meet your changing whims ; but when your thought 
has once shaped itself in brick and mortar, it has become a 
matter of enduring record. See to it that it be such a record 
as you are willing should be read by posterity. 

Adopt no plan hastily, whether conceived by yourself or of- 
fered by another. It should be carefully studied, examined in 
every light, looked at from every point of view. There are 
many things to be taken into consideration. 

1. In the first place, your house must be adapted to the site 
you have chosen. A plan may be admirable in itself, and yet 
unsuited to a particular spot. It must be looked at, then, in ref- 
erence to the ground it is to occupy ; or if the plan be adopted 
first, the site must be selected in accordance with it. Not 
merely the style and general character of a house are influenced 
by the contour and aspect of the features of the landscape 
around, but its outlines upon the ground, its arrangement in 
masses, is equally subject to the great law of fitness.* 

2. If one’s pecuniary resources are limited, the amount of 
money which he can appropriate to building will greatly in- 
fluence the character of his plan. Reception-rooms, drawing- 
rooms, libraries, boudoirs, and so on, are certainly desirable; 
but if you have but seven or eight hundred dollars to expend 
in building, it would be folly to put them all into your plan. 
You must be content with a small number of rooms, making, 
if necessary, several of them serve two or three distinct uses. 

Consider first what accommodations are absolutely essential 
to your comfort, and then what appliances of convenience or 
luxury you can add. Do not plan too largely. Depend upon 


Gervase Wheeler. 


IIouse-Building. 


21 


it, /cm wili enjoy a much larger sum of happiness in a small 
hotise wholly paid for, than in a large one which has involved 
you in debt. 

3. Having decided what sort of a house is best adapted to 
your site, and what amount of accommodations the sum you 
purpose to appropriate will secure, consider next how you can 
make that amount of accommodation best subserve the particular 
wants and tastes of yourself and family. Ho two households 
are exactly alike in their domestic habits, and a house which 
your neighbor Brown finds “just the thing,” would require 
considerable modification probably to adapt it to your purpose ; 
so in making a plan, or in studying those which we offer in this 
work, with a view to the adoption of one of them, keep the 
requirements of your particular household constantly in view, 
and adopt, modify, or reject accordingly, remembering that the 
first grand requirement of every dwelling-house is fitness or 
adaptation to its uses. 

The fact that individual wants and tastes are infinitely va- 
ried, renders it impossible for us to give either directions or 
plans that will exactly suit individual cases ; but we will here 
briefly advert to some general principles which should govern 
in the development or choice of a plan. 

1. General Form . — The largest space in proportion to the 
extent of the wall may be included in the circular form, but, 
although round houses have been built, as we shall show fur- 
ther on, this shape is not a desirable one. The octagon ap- 
proaches the circle in shape and in economy -of outside wall. 
This form is, in our view, open to serious objections, but to 
give our readers an opportunity to judge for themselves in ref- 
erence to its advantages and disadvantages, we give plans of 
octagon .houses in another chapter. 

O. S. Fowler, in his “ Home for All,”* has advocated this form 
with an earnestness which could only come from thorough 
conviction of its superiority over all others. To that work we 


For sale by Geo. E. & F. W. Woodward, 37 Park Row. — $1.50. 


22 The House. 

must refer those who may desire to see what can be said in its 
favor. 

Of the common forms adopted in house-building, the square 
is the most economical in point of outside wall, and allows the 
most compact arrangement of rooms. Many prefer it to all 
others. A square house can not easily he made picturesque, 
but need not be, as such houses too often are, a mere character- 
less box. The advantages of the winged form, in its various 
modifications, are a more perfect adaptation. to the high-pitched 
roof, greater picturesqueness, and more varied aspects. One 
part can also often be so projected as to shelter another and 
more important one from prevailing winds and storms. 

2. . Aspect . — With regard to the aspect of a dwelling-house, 
and the disposition of its various rooms in reference to the 
points of compass, the principal objects to be kept in view are: 
1. Shelter from prevailing winds and storms; 2. Enjoyment of 
particular views afiorded by the situation ; 3. Exposure to or 
protection from the sun. In cold and temperate climates a 
southern or southwestern exposure is most desirable for the 
principal rooms. In the Northern and Middle States generally, 
a northeastern aspect is, if possible, to be avoided, our most 
disagreeable storms coming from that quarter. In hot climates, 
a northern exposure is sometimes chosen on account of its 
coolness. 

3. Arrangement of Rooms . — But other considerations be- 
sides those mentioned in the preceding section should of course 
have an influence in deciding the disposition of the various 
apartments of a dwelling. The convenience of the house as a 
whole must not be sacrificed to promote the comfort of a single 
apartment. The end to be secured is the most perfect adapt- 
ation possible of the entire structure to the purpose for which 
it is erected. This purpose, in its details, being almost infinitely 
varied, of course the arrangement of rooms, in common with 
the architectural features, mode of construction, etc., will vary 
accordingly, no two families requiring precisely the same ac- 
commodations. We can only offer a few hints for general appli- 


House-Building. 


23 


cation. Our ideas on this point, together with those of other 
persons, will he found elaborated in the plans presented in 
other chapters. 

Having utility constantly in view, labor-saving must be 
made a prominent idea in our arrangement of rooms. This is 
necessary in the habitations of the rich as well as of the poor. 
The difficulty of getting good servants, and the cares and vex- 
ations attending the employment of bad or indifferent ones, ren 
ler it desirable for even the wealthy to employ as few of them 
is possible. To promote the saving of labor, and convenience 
in performing the domestic labors of a household, we should 
study compactness, avoiding, so far as other important consider- 
ations will permit, extended wings and long passages. The 
rooms, too, most closely related in their uses should be brought 
near each other y^he dining-room, for instance, being so placed 
as to afford easy ingress and egress from the kitchen, while at 
the same time it is desirable that the one should not open di- 
rectly into the other. To the same end, a pantry, sink-room, 
closets, etc., should be provided for in connection with the 
dining-room and kitchen. When there is a basement, some 
will prefer to place the kitchen and its offices in that, and the 
dining-room on the principal floor. This is a more elegant but 
a less convenient arrangement than having them on the same 
floor. A dumb waiter, however, will obviate, in part at least, 
the objections to this plan. The entrance hall should generally 
be central in position, and if possible furnish access to every 
room on the first floor. In some plans, however, in order to 
economize space, it is advisable to deviate from this rule. It 
should open toward the south, east, or west, if possible, and not 
toward the north. 

When it is practicable, there should be at least one room on 
the first floor provided with the means of warmth and venti- 
lation, which can be used as a sleeping-room in case of sick- 
ness or other need. 

The duties of hospitality should not be neglected, and pro- 
vision must be made, in every plan which will admit it, for 


24 


The House. 


spare chambers, a parlor, etc. ; we do not, however, or at 
least we should not, build our houses for our guests, hut for 
ourselves and families, and we protest against the sacrifice of 
family convenience and home-comfort, often made, for the pur- 
pose of entertaining occasional visitors more elegantly. Would 
it not he well for our very utilitarian people to consider 
whether it really “pays” to provide an elegant and comfortable 
parlor — perhaps the only handsome room in the house — to he 
used, as is the case in many country dwellings, scarcely a 
dozen times in a year ? Take our advice, and if you have a 
peculiarly handsome, agreeable, and comfortable room in your 
house, whether it be called parlor, saloon, or drawing-room, 
furnish and adorn it in the best manner your means will per- 
mit, and then use it — avail yourself of its benefits by throwing 
it open for daily family occupancy ; and v^pn guests arrive, 
welcome them also to all its advantages. They will feel much 
more at home there than in a room which has been opened on 
their arrival for the first time in a month or two. 

Sleeping apartments should be of good size, well-lighted, and 
well-ventilated, and each should have separate means of access 
to a hall, corridor, or passage. Their distribution will gener- 
ally be suggested by that of the rooms below. 

Every house should have a bath-room. In assigning it its 
place, reference should be had to ease of access, facility of con- 
veying water, and security against damage from any accidental 
leakage. A water-closet, either in connection with the batli- 
ing-room or in some other convenient situation, is very desir- 
able, and should be provided for wherever the pecuniary means 
at the command of the builder will permit. 

4. Miscellaneous Hints . — A pantry convenient to the din- 
ing-room, and if practicable opening from it, should be provided 
for in every house. A sink-room and closets must be thought 
of in the same connection. Every sleeping room should also 
have a closet if practicable ; but we would not sacrifice the pro- 
portion and beauty of a room by cutting off closets where they 
can not conveniently be made without violence to the design. 


Ho us io- B uilding. 


25 


The situation of the chimneys should be made the subject of 
careful consideration. They give most warmth when placed 
in the inner walls, but in some styles of building are more 
picturesque on the exterior. 

Stairs should generally be central in position, broad, and not 
too high. A hack door should be provided, both for conveni- 
ence and for the purpose of ventilation, of which more anon. 
Windows on opposite sides of a room are generally to b< 
avoided, on account of their unpleasant “ cross lights.” 

IV.- STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 

The domestic architecture of a people should be the natural 
outgrowth of its character, institutions, customs, and habits, 
modified by the climate and scenery in the midst of which it is 
built up. In this way originated the English cottage, the 
Swiss chalet , and the Italian villa. Having in this country 
institutions differing from those of any other, together with 
many peculiarities of character, habits, and climate, we can 
not consistently adopt in full the architecture of any other 
people or country. We should have a style, or perhaps sev- 
eral styles, peculiar to ourselves ; and no doubt we shall have 
them in due time. Thus far we have been content to build 
in every style, ancient and modern, and, most of all, in no 
style ; covering the whole face of the country with incon- 
gruous and unsightly structures. There are various causes for 
this state of things, the principal of which are the necessary 
devotion of our people to the rough work of subduing a new 
country; the consequent la- tv of thought and culture in the 
right direction ; and the want of true home-feeling, growing 
out of our migratory habits. These causes are becoming yea. 
by year less operative, and our domestic architecture is improv- 
ing in the same ratio — exceptions to the general ugliness of our 
buildings growing more and more numerous as leisure, culture, 
and love of home and home-life increase among us. This im- 
provement will go on ; the modifications which our climates and 
modes of life suggest in existing styles will assume definite, and 
2 


26 


The House. 


artistic, and j ermanent shape, and the new American style or 
styles will receive their birth. In the mean time, we must 
borrow and modify as best we may. 

The various modes of building now in use, so far as they are 
susceptible of classification, may be referred to two original 
styles of which they are modifications — the Grecian, in which 
horizontal lines prevail, and the Gothic, in which vertical lines 
prevail. To the former class belongs the Italian, the Swiss, the 
Flemish, and other continental European modes, in their various 
modifications ; and to the latter the old English styles of various 
periods, as well as the modern rural Gothic mode. 

In adopting any mode for imitation, our preference should be 
guided not only by the intrinsic beauty which we see in a 
particular style, but by its appropriateness to our uses. This 
will generally be indicated by the climate, the site, and tlio 
wants of the family which is to inhabit, the house. In high 
northern latitudes, where colonnades and verandas would be 
unsuitable, the Grecian or Italian styles should not be chosen ; 
and in a tropical one, the warm, solid, comfortable features of 
the old English architecture would be neither necessary nor ap- 
propriate.* 

1. Taking the climate alone into consideration, a Southern 
should differ in many respects from a Northern house. The 
broad halls, airy rooms, cool ombras, and spacious verandas or 
arcades and balconies, required by the former, seem to indicate 
a modification of the Italian style ; while the compact arrange- 
ment of apartments, the provisions for fireside comfort, and the 
protection against heavy snows which must be insisted upon 
in the latter, point to the various forms of the Gothic rural 

t.yle. In the middle region of our country, either style may 
appropriately be adopted, as other conditions may require. 

2. The next consideration is fitness to the site we have 
fiiosen, or harmony with the scenery around. “Rural archi- 
tecture, it has been truly said, “ is the creation of a picture 


* Downii 


II O U S P> li U I L D I N G . 


27 


of which the landscape is the background.” We must design 
the principal object in the picture to correspond with its ac- 
cessories. “The ultimate test of rural architecture and its 
kindred art, landscape gardening, is landscape painting. Does 
a literal view of a building and its environs from a well-chosen 
point, or from several points of view, make a good picture? 
Does it, as artists say, compose well ? Does it seem of a piece, 
as if the building might have grown out of the ground ? Then, 
but not otherwise, the design is good.”* 

The principle here laid down is \iolated by erecting a Swiss 
chalet in alow, flat country; a small, plain, unpretending cottage 
on an elevated and commanding situation ; or an Italian villa 
with a lookout tower in a secluded valley. It should also be 
understood that rustic features look well only in the midst of 
rural simplicity, and that architectural elegance should be re- 
served for cultivated scenes. Again, where the features of the 
landscape are wild and grand, irregularity and picturesqueness 
in the forms of buildings may appropriately be introduced. 
A cottage which would seem fitting and beautiful on a village 
street would be incongruous with its situation and appear evi- 
dently misplaced on a rough hillside, in the midst of the wild- 
ness of nature. 

3. The plan of a house, as we have already said, should be 
made with reference to its site. The style and character of the 
elevation are influenced in some measure by the plan. Some 
plans, however, are adapted to various styles of elevation, 
while others are well suited to only one. The size determined 
upon will also modify the character of a house, and must al- 
ways be taken into the account. 

4. The materials to be used in construction will also neces- 
sarily influence one in the choice of a style ; for although a 
given design may perhaps be executed in either wood, brick, or 
stone, it will not be equally adapted to each. Variety of form 
and profusion of ornament are attained in stone and brick only 


Gervnse Wheeler. 


28 


The House. 


at great expense. Kural cottages of these materials should 
therefore generally be simple in form, and depend for their 
effect upon proportion, symmetry, and what artists call breadth , 
rather than upon variety and picturesqueness of outline and 
high finish. In wood, greater variety of form and more elabo- 
rate embellishment may be secured at a given expense ; indeed, 
so great is the facility of producing architectural ornaments in 
this material, that they are too often applied unmeaningly, use- 
lessly, and to a most absurd extent. 

5. One hint more on this head for the especial benefit of 
those who have spent most of their lives in cities. Do not 
carry your cockneyism into the country. Leave your town 
house where it is. It is, no doubt, a very good town house ; 
but nothing can be more absurd than to attempt to reproduce 
it in the midst of orchards and cornfields. Downing speaks of 
a suburban villa which he saw on Long Island in the shape of 
“a narrow, unmistakable ‘six story brick,’ which seemed in 
its forlornness and utter want of harmony with all about it, as 
if it had strayed out of town in a fit of insanity and had lost 
the power of getting back again.” “A word to the wise,” etc. 

Y.-MATEEIALS. 

1. Wood . — Ho other material is so extensively employed 
in rural architecture, in this country, as wood. This arises 
mainly from its abundance* and cheapness; but an additional 
reason for its use may be found in its suitableness for the 
kind of buildings mostly wanted, and its truthful expression of 
the unstable and migratory character of our people. Tempo- 
rary shelters, rather than permanent homes, have been in 
demand. Young men expecting soon to be able to build villas 
or mansions, have not cared to erect cottages of stone or 
brick, to be pulled down or sold in the course of a few years. 
Wood is just the thing required. And when the time arrives 
for building the villa or the mansion (for these castles in the 
air, in many cases, ultimately assume a tangible shape on the 
solid ground), the projector is perhaps no longer young 


House-Building. 


29 


Wood will still serve liis purpose. Why should he seek a 
more enduring material? He will need the building but a 
few years; and his sons, perhaps, have all “gone West” — at 
any rate, they will sell the paternal mansion so soon as it shall 
come into their possession and build for themselves. It has 
for them none of the sacred associations of home. It is haunt- 
ed by no memories of their childhood. It is only their father’s 
grand new house ! 

So it has been in the past, and so, to a large extent, will it 
continue to be for a long time to come; but there is a tend- 
ency, as we have before hinted, toward a better state of things. 
In the older parts of the country, at least, families are acquir- 
ing local permanency, and a love of home and all that pertains 
to home-life and home-scenes is beginning to be fostered. 
These circumstances and sentiments will gradually find ex- 
pression in a more solid and enduring style of domestic archi- 
tecture. 

But whde Avood is abundant and comparatively cheap, it 
will necessarily continue to be employed by those who must 
build cheaply or not at all. Bent-paying is distasteful to our 
people, Avho choose rather to live in houses of low cost owned 
by themselves, than to go and come at the beck of a landlord. 
They are right ; and while Ave would gladly see them give place 
to better and more permanent ones, Ave are proud of the flimsy, 
unsubstantial structures, so sneered at by foreigners, which 
dot the whole face of the country. They are the homes of the 
people, Avho will by-and-by build and own better ones. 

For all Avooden cottages, Downing recommends vertical 
boarding with inch or inch and a quarter pine, tongued and 
grooved at the edges, nailed on, and covered Avith neat bat- 
tens. We think, hovrever, that filled-in Avails are to be pre- 
ferred. These are made by filling-in a course of any cheap 
bricks f-om bottom to top of the Avhole frame. This will make 
a wall four inches thick between the weather-boarding and the 
lath and plastering of the rooms. The cheapest mortar, made 
with a small proportion of lime, is used for this filling-in ; some 


30 


Tiip: House. 


place the bricks on edge and build them flush with the inside 
of the timbers or studs (or, rather, projecting a quarter of an 
inch forward). This leaves a hollow space between the weather- 
boarding and the brick wall, and renders lathing unnecessary, 
the plaster being applied directly on the inner face of the fill- 
ing-in. 

2. Stone . — Where permanence is required, and the style of 
architecture adopted will admit it, stone is undoubtedly the 
best of all materials for building. In some parts of the country, 
however, it can not be procured ; and even when it is abund- 
ant, the expense of quarrying, shaping, and laying it up, gener- 
ally renders the first cost of a stone house much greater than 
that of a wooden one. But where the cost of preparing the 
stone is small, it may often be advantageously used in building 
houses of moderate cost. 

The inner face of the walls of stone houses should always be 
“furred off,” leaving a space of two or more inches between 
the solid wall and the plaster. The stratum of air thus inter- 
posed will effectually prevent dampness, and render the wall 
cooler in summer and warmer in winter than it could other- 
wise be made.* 

In damp situations it is also necessary to build the foundation 
walls of hydraulic lime mortar, to cut off the access of moist- 
ure from the ground. With those precautions, houses built of 
stone will be as free from dampness as any other. 

3. Brick. — Brick, when made of good clay, rightly tempered 
with sand, and well burned, makes an excellent material for 
building, either in city, village, or country. It is suitable for 
designs in which stone can not, without great expense, be 
wrought into the required forms. 

Hollow walls are best for brick houses, th6ir advantages 
being: 1. A considerable saving of materials; 2. The preven- 
tion of dampness; 3. The saving of all the cost of lathing and 
studding for the interior walls ; 4. The great security afforded 


For an excellent method oStouilding with unhewn stone, see Appendix (A). 


House-Building. 


31 


against fire ; 5. The opportunity they afford for thorough and 
easily controlled ventilation.* When not built hollo^y, brick 
walls should be l ' furred off” in the same way as those of stone. 

When timber and stone are both scarce, as on the prairies 
of the West, cottages and farm-houses are frequently built of 
unburnt brick. In our Appendix will be found an account of 
their construction, condensed from a Report on the subject 
made by Mr. Ellsworth while Commissioner of Patents. He 
bears the strongest testimony to their cheapness, warmth, and 
durability.! 

4. Concrete . — Much attention has been directed of late to 
walls of concrete for country houses. These walls are said to 
combine in a high degree durability, cheapness, warmth, and 
dryness. They are composed of lime, sand, gravel, and frag- 
ments of stone. A considerable number of houses have been 
built of this material within the last few years, with varying and 
seemingly contradictory results. In some cases perfect success 
seems to have been attained, the walls assuming and retaining 
a stone-like consistency and promising great durability, while 
in others expensive failures have been the result, the structures 
crumbling to powder within two years. 

Our own opinion, formed after a thorough examination of 
the subject, is, that where all the requisite materials abound, 
walls of concrete may be put up far more cheaply than those 
of stone or brick, and that a durability nearly equal to that of 
marble may be universally secured by a strict compliance with 
the following conditions: 

1. The various materials entering into the composition of 
the concrete must be well selected and rightly compounded — 
the lime being of a good quality, the sand clean and sharp, and 
the gravel well screened, and each of these ingredients, as well 
as the rock fragments, being used in the proper proportion. 

2. The walls must be built at the proper season of the year, 
to insure their perfect hardening before being affected by frost. 


* See Ippendix(B) 


t See Appendix (C » 


32 


The House. 


3. The building must be covered by a projecting roof, to 
protect the walls against vertical rains. 

We have yet to learn that a failure lias ever occurred where 
all these conditions have been strictly adhered to. 

We give in the Appendix some account of the mode of 
building concrete walls, and further information may be found 
in O. S. Fowler’s “ Home for All.” Our principal objection 
to this mode of building lies in the necessity which exists for 
external plastering or stuccoing, and the consequent blank and 
monotonous appearance of the walls. With many persons, 
however, this objection will have little weight. It may be ob- 
viated by the common sham of marking off the surface in imi- 
tation of courses of stone, an untruthful practice which we 
can not recommend. 

m 

YI. — MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS. 

1. Cellars . — Cellars under dwelling houses are generally 
deemed indispensable. They are certainly very useful; but 
there is an evil of such magnitude connected with them, that 
some have advocated their entire abolition. They are almost 
universally manufactories and reservoirs of foul air, which, find- 
ing its way upward by means of doors, windows, stairways, 
and crevices in the floors, diffuses its noxious elements through 
the rooms above, and becomes a fruitful source of disease. 
It is not necessary that they should be half filled with rotting 
garbage to produce this result. The surface of the earth is 
filled with decomposable substances, and whenever air is con- 
fined in any spot in contact with the ground, or any change- 
able organic matter, it becomes saturated with various exhala- 
tions which are detrimental to health* Means must be pro 
vided, therefore, for their thorough ventilation, or cellars must 
be abandoned altogether.! 

A cellar, to fully serve its purposes, should be cool in sum- 


* Professor Youmnns. + See Appendix (DL 


IIouse-Building. 


33 


mer, impervious to frost in winter, and dry at all times. The 
walls should rise one or two feet at least above the level of 
the surrounding ground, and should be laid in good lime mor- 
tar, or at least pointed with it. The thickness of the wall 
should not be less than from fifteen to eighteen inches ; and if 
the house walls above be built of brick or stone, two feet is 
better. The cellar should have a drain from the lowest cor- 
ner, which should be always kept open ; and each room in it 
should have at least two sliding sash -windows, to secure a cir- 
culation of air. In very cold climates, those portions of the 
walls above the surface of the ground should be double, either 
by means of a distinct thin wall on the outside or by lathing 
and plastering on the inside, and be furnished with double 
windows as a further security against frost. An outside door 
with a flight of steps is desirable in every cellar, and in one 
connected with a farm-house indispensable. 

2. Chimneys . — The construction of an effective chimney 
would seem to be a very simple and easy matter ; and so it is, 
provided the philosophical principles involved be first under- 
Fig. 2. stood, as they should be by ev- Fi s- 3 - 


situations the top of the chimney should be contracted to a 
third less than the area of the flue ; but in ordinary cases a 
2 * 



The main point to be attend- 
ed to in order to cause a chim- 
ney to draw well, is to con- 
tract the openings both at the 
throat and at the top, so as 
to break the force of any down- 
ward currents of air which 
may be thrown into it. Fig. 
2 will serve to illustrate the 
faulty construction of the throat, 
and fig. 3 the correct construc- 
tion. 


ery builder. 



Faulty 

Construction. 


In very windy or exposed 


Correct 

Construction. 


34 : The House. 

diminution of about two inches in the diameter will be suf 
ficient. 

3. Warming . — The original plan for warming houses was ti 
build a fire in the center of the principal room, the smoke 
being allowed to find its way out either at a hole in the roof or 
through any accidental crevices which might exist. With the 
invention of the chimney came the fire-place, an opening in the 
side of its base. This opening formed, at first, an immense re 
cess with square side-walls or jambs, and, in addition to the fire, 
furnished accommodations for several persons, who were pro- 
vided with seats within its area. The tendency of modern 
improvement has been to gradually contract this opening, 
until it seems in a fair way to be abolished altogether ; but 
this last step should not be taken till something more suitable 
than has yet been produced shall have been provided to take 
its place. 

The principal methods of warming now in use in this coun- 
try are: 1. By open fire-places; 2. By open grates; 3. By 
stoves ; 4. By hot-air furnaces ; 5. By steam and hot-water 
apparatuses. 

1. The open fire-place furnishes the pleasantest and most 
healthful mode of warming a room ; but in a pecuniary point 
of view it is not economical. A very large portion of the heat 
generated is carried up the chimney and lost. By so construct- 
ing the fire-place that it may supply a current of heated air to 
the room, which may easily be done in various ways, this ob- 
jection is partially obviated. 

Any attempt to bring the fire-place again into general use, 
even in the country, would probably be vain ; but we can not 
refrain from expressing most emphatically our opinion, that 
in places where fuel is still cheap, the substitution of stoves 
has been a most unwise and short-sighted piece of false econ- 
omy. Shall we give up the cheerful and healthful glow of the 
blazing fire, and submit to the stifling heat and gloomy ap- 
pearance of the deadly “air-tight,” for the mere purpose of 
saving a few dollars, at the expense of an untold amount of 


House-Building. 


35 


health and comfort? We must at least put on record here our 
earnest protest against it. 

2. Next to the open fire-place, in point of health and com- 
fort, comes the open chimney grate. Similar to this, and 
more economical, is the stove grate or open stove. This, when 
properly constructed with an air-chamber within it connected 
with the open air by a pipe and with several openings near the 
top to admit the warmed air into the room, furnishes a very 
pleasant means of warming an apartment. 

3. Our opinion of stoves has already been hinted at. If it 
onflicts with the generally received ideas on the subject, we 

can not help it. With the exception of the open stove or stove 
grate already mentioned, we are constrained to pronounce them 
unmitigated nuisances, entirely unworthy of acceptance in an 
enlightened age and by an enlightened people. They have 
not a single advantage, so far as we can perceive, to recommend 
them — not even that of economy, for where they subtract one 
dollar from the fuel account, they add two to the doctor’s bill. 

We believe that their almost universal introduction has had 
more to do than any other single cause with the acknowledged 
deterioration which has taken place within the last half century 
in the health and vital stamina of our people. It is Dickens, 
we believe, who calls the stove the “ household demon.” 
Would to God we had the power to exorcise it ! 

4. Hot-air furnaces, steam apparatus, etc., are little used in 
warming small country houses ; and it is hardly desirable that 
they should be more extensively introduced ; for their advant- 
ages, as they are generally managed, arc fully counterbalanced 
by their disadvantages. 

In building, attention should be directed to making the walls 
of a dwelling-house poor conductors of heat. Of the means 
of doing this we have already spoken. For the same reason 
double windows should be introduced wherever the winters 
are very severe. Ordinary windows, no matter how tight 
they may be, are great abstractors of heat — or, rather, they 
furnish a medium through which the cold air without abstracts 


36 


The House. 


the heat from the warm air within. Double windows, by eon 
fining a stratum of air (a non-conductor of heat) between them, 
entirely prevents this loss. Doubling the glass in the same 
sash answers the purpose equally well. 

5. Ventilation . — We can not here go into an exposition of 
the relations of atmospheric air to the animal economy, or show 
how its various constituents affect the system. We must take 
it for granted that the reader understands and fully appreciates 
the fact, that pure air is quite as essential to the health of the 
body and the right performance of its functions as wholesome 
food, and that therefore a copious and constant supply of it in 
our dwellings is of the utmost importance. But this, we fear, 
is assuming too much. If it be generally known that the at- 
mospheric air in its purity, and that alone, is fitted for the res- 
piration of human beings, how does it happen that the great 
mass of our people are content to breathe, during a large por- 
tion of their lives, a vile compound of noxious gases instead ? 
In a majority of our houses, even of the better sort, the little 
ventilation which takes place is purely incidental, no direct 
provision whatever being made for it. What is the result? 
During the warmest weather of summer, open doors and 
windows generally secure adequate circulation and consequent 
purity of air. In the winter, and a portion of the time in the 
summer, the case is quite different. The windows and doors 
are carefully closed and a fire kindled in the stove or grate, 
around which we gather. Now commences the transformation 
of the life-giving element, with which the room was originally 
filled, into a subtile but active and powerful agent of disease and 
death. The air, chemists tell us, is mainly composed of nitro- 
gen and oxygen, of which the latter is the active, life-giving 
principle, and the former the neutral or diluting principle. 
Now each person takes into his lungs more than two hogsheads 
per hour of this vital fluid — that is, provided it can be had — 
retains most of the oxygen, and throws out in place of it nearly 
an equal bulk of carbonic acid gas — a deadly poison. The 
combustion of fuel in the stove or grate, and of the substances 


IIouse-Buildino. 


37 


used in lighting the room in the evening, acts upon the air in 
nearly the same manner as breathing — consuming its oxygen 
and supplying its place with carbonic acid. Other gaseous 
impurities, among which is carbonic oxyd, a much more 
deadly poison than carbonic acid even, are thrown out by our 
stoves, and particularly by those called “air tight,” to add to 
the general mass of impurity which we compel ourselves to 
breathe. What must soon become the state of the atmo- 
sphere in a closed room under these circumstances? Does it 
startle you to think of it? Well it may! Depend upon it, if 
you could see the mass of vitiated and poisoned air in th*» 
midst of which you are living —if it should for a moment be- 
come visible in the form of a sickly, yellow mist or a cloud of 
lurid, deadly red, and you were really aware of all its noxious 
properties — you would flee from your stove-heated and unven- 
tilated rooms as from a city swept by a pestilence. What 
wonder we have headaches and bad digestion ; that the cheek 
of beauty grows pale among us and the eye of youth dim and 
sunken; that the vital powers are gradually undermined; and 
that scrofula, dyspepsia, and consumption are so common and 
so fatal. But have we not said enough ? There is a remedy — 

Ventilation, 

and if you forget everything else in this little book — if you 
heed our advice on no other point — remember this injunction : 
Never build a house , or live in one already built , without 'pro- 
viding adequate means for the thorough ventilation of every 
room in it. 

Ventilation embraces two distinct processes — the removal 
of the foul air and the introduction of pure air ; and to be safl- 
isfactory, both must be carried on without producing injurious 
or often si ve currents. 

The simplest provision for the escape of bad air is an open- 
ing in the chimney near the ceiling, properly provided with a 
valve or register. This mode of ventilation is simple, easily 
introduced even into houses already built, and thoroughly 


38 


The House. 


effective, at least while fires are kept up, as they usually are 
during the winter, when ventilation is most required. An 
Arnot valve is better than a register 
for insertion in a chimney opening, 
since it effectually prevents the es- 
cape of smoke into the room. This 
valve is a yery simple box of cast 
iron, with an iron valve so contrived 
that it will remain open while there 
is the least pressure of foul air from 
within, but close at once against any current in the. opposite 
direction. It is easily built into the chimney, or can be inserted 
afterward by merely taking out two or three bricks. 

But carbonic acid gas is heavier than common air, and al- 
though carried upward by the ascending currents and partially 
drawn off by the opening near the ceiling, a portion of it de- 
scends and forms a stratum in the lower part of the room. 
The current kept up by the combustion going on in an open 
fire-place or a grate helps to draw this off ; but it is essential 
to perfect ventilation that an opening near the floor be provided 
for the special purpose of carrying it away. A square piece 
of wire gauze inserted in the lower part of the fire-board, with 
a curtain of oiled silk behind it, to serve as a valve, will an- 
swer this purpose tolerably well, where the chimney current 
is sufficiently strong. Apertures connected with downward 
conducting flues, however, are generally more serviceable. 

Means being provided for the escape of the impure air, a 
partial supply of fresh air from outside finds its way into our 
rooms through accidental fissures and occasionally opened 
doors ; but it is irregular and inadequate. More may be intro 
duced by lowering the upper sash of a window, but this creates 
an unpleasant and dangerous current of cold air, and is there- 
fore unsatisfactory. An improvement upon this plan is to re- 
place one of the upper panes of glass in the window farthest 
from the fire by a perforated plate of zinc or a louvre made 
of tin, zinc, or glass, with horizontal openings or slats like a 


Fig. 4. 



Aenot’s Valve. 



IIouse-Building. 


39 


Fig. 6. 


Venetian blind. A contrivance of this nature is far better than 
no provision at all for the admission of pure air, and should 
always be resorted to when no better arrangement may be 
nracticable. But the best way -to introduce fresh air is 
Fig. 5. through air-chambers connected with the fire- 
place or grate, so that it may be warmed be- 
fore being thrown into the room. An arrange 
ment of this kind, connected 
with an open fire-place or 
grate, is represented by figs. 5 
and 6. The fresh air enters 
from the outside at a. Fig. 5 
is slightly warmed in the air- 
chamber at the back or side 
of the fire-place, 5, and passes 
into the room by a side open- 
c ing, as shown at a , fig. 6. The 
valve for the escape of the 








1 


si 1 


Chimney Section, bad air is represented by &, Chimney Openings. 
fig. 6. It is better, however, that the opening for the admission 
of fresh air and the valve for the escape of impure air should 
be on opposite sides of the chimney-breast.* 

But a perfect system of ventilation, effective at all seasons 
and operating in all the apartments of the house, whether 
furnished with fire-places or not, requires a series of venti- 
lating flues (the openings in which must be provided with 
the necessary valves), all leading into a larger flue or shaft in 
which a current is constantly kept up, both winter and sum- 
mer. The kitchen fire furnishes the motive power required 
It may be effectively applied in various ways as circumstance 
may require and ingenuity suggest, aided, if necessary, by a 
ventilating cap at the top of the shaft. Having mastered the 
principles on wTiich ventilation depends, as every one purpos- 
ing to ouild a house should do, the rest will be easy. 


Downing. 


10 


The House. 


In providing for the ventilation of your house, give special 
attention to the nursery and the sleeping -rooms, and do not 
forget the cellar. The last, if provided with the outside door 
and sliding sash windows we have recommended, may be tol 
erably well ventilated in summer, while these can he left open, 
without extra provision for that purpose; but in the Avinter 
the operation of a ventilating flue extended down from an ac- 
tive chimney flue is absolutely essential to anything like purity 
of air in such an underground apartment. 

6. Exterior Color. — For the outside painting of country 
houses, quiet, neutral tints should generally be chosen. The 
various shades of fawn, drab, gray, and brown, are all very 
suitable. All the positive colors, such as red, yellow, blue, 
green, black, and white, should always be avoided. Nothing 
can be in worse taste than the very common practice of paint- 
ing country houses white. This color is glaring and disagree- 
able to the eye, when presented in large masses; it makes a 
house an obtrusive and too conspicuous object in the landscape; 
it does not harmonize with the hues of nature — standing, as it 
were, harshly apart from all the soft shades of the scene. Use 
any other color rather than white. Downing makes an ex- 
ception to this rule in favor of cottages deeply embowered in 
trees — the shadow of the foliage taking away the harshness and 
offensiveness of the color ; but even in such cases we would 
modify the white by a slight admixture of chrome yellow and 
Indian red. Red, another glaring and disagreeable color, is 
a common one for farm-houses in some parts of the country. 
It is scarcely less offensive to the eye than white. 

Perceiving the absurdity of painting country houses white, 
nany have gone to the other extreme, and given their dwell- 
ings a too dark and somber hue. Light, cheerful, but unobtru- 
sive colors, harmonizing with the prevailing hues of the country, 
are most suitable. Take the colors of the various earths, the 
stones, the trunks aud branches of trees, mosses, and other 
natural objects for your guides, and you will not go far wrong. 
A quiet fawn color or drab and a warm gray— that is, a gray 


IIousk-Building. 


41 


mixed with a very little red and some yellow — are the safest 
colors to recommend for general use. The browns and dark 
grays are suitable for stables and out-buildings. 

A mansion or a villa should have a somewhat sober hue ; a 
house of moderate size a light and pleasant tone ; and a small 
cottage a still lighter and livelier tint. A house exposed to 
the view should have a darker hue than one that is much 
hidden by foliage. 

To produce the best effect, several tints or shades of color 
should be used in painting the exterior of a house ; and it is 
important that they be judiciously chosen and combined. If 
the color selected for the main walls be light , the facings of 
the windows, the roof trimmings, verandas, etc., may appro- 
priately be a darker shade of the same color ; and if the pre- 
vailing color of the building be darlc , a lighter shade should be 
applied to the trimmings. If Venetian blinds be used, the 
solid parts of them may be similar in shade to the window 
casings, but a little darker, and the movable slats darkest of all. 
If green be preferred for the blinds, it should be a very dark 
green ; light and bright greens having a flashy and disagree- 
able effect. 

6. Interior Color , Wall Paper , etc . — Instead of painting 
and graining interior wood-work in imitation of oak, black 
walnut, or other dark wood, Downing recommends to stain it, 
bo as to give the effect of the darker wood while retaining the 
real appearance of the grain x>f the pine or other wood itself. 
We give in the Appendix his recipe for staining pine and other 
soft woods. 

The remarks made in thi preceding section in reference to 
colors will apply with slight modification to the interiors as 
well as the exteriors of houses. Agreeable neutral tints — 
gray, drab, fawn color, etc. — should be given to the walls, the 
ceilings alone being white, the cost of a wash of these tints 
for a room being only a few cents greater than that of a white- 
wash. When walls are to be papered, colors and patterns 
should be chosen with reference to the same principles. K 


42 


The House. 


architectural paper be used, it must be in the same style as the 
house — an Italian or Grecian room in a Gothic cottage not 
being quite appropriate. 

The best effect is produced by having the ceiling lightest, 
the side walls a little darker, the wood-work a shade darkei 
still, and the carpet darkest of all.* The hall and all passages 
and staircases should be of a cool, sober tone of color, and 
simple in decoration. 

7. Roofing . — For the general purposes of roofing for country 
houses there is no good material perhaps so generally available 
as shingles. Slate forms an excellent covering, but in' most 
localities is far too costly for ordinary use. Tin serves a good 
purpose when well put on ; but on account of its tendency to 
expand and contract, is somewhat liable to get out of order. 
Thick canvas is good for the flat roofs of verandas and other 
small surfaces.! 

8. Stucco . — Stuccoing or outside plastering has been tried to 
a considerable extent in this country ; but generally with indif- 
ferent success. The stucco, so far as our observation extends, 
soon cracks and begins to peel off under the sudden and fierce 
alternations of heat and cold to which our climate is subject. 
Mr. Downing — high authority in such matters — however, 
speaks favorably of stuccoing for rough walls, and expresses 
the opinion that the cause of its failure is that it is so imper- 
fectly understood, and consequently so badly practiced in this 
country. We copy his directions in our Appendix.^ 

9. Rough- Cast. — Rough-cast is a species of cheap and du- 
rable cement adapted to farm-houses and the plainer kind of 
rural cottages. It is adapted, like stucco, to rough walls. Se 
Appendix for directions for preparing and applying it.§ 

10. Drainage . — Efficient drainage for the sewerage ana 
waste water must be provided for in every plan for a country 
house. Four or five inch earthen pipes are best to connect 


* Downing. 

t See Appendix (F) for something more about roofing material*! 

; (f.) i ibid. 


HoUsE-JBuiLDING. 


43 


the cess-pool with the house. They must be “trapped,” so 
that there shall be no continuous air-passage through which 
noxious gases may .rise. The cess-pool must not be near the 
well. 

11. Trees, Shrubs, and Vines . — We have no space to devote 
to landscape gardening, which, although closely related to rural 
architecture, lies beyond the scope of our plan. We can only 
'say, plant trees, shrubs, and vines by all means; but call taste 
and judgment to your aid in choosing and arranging them. 
The largest masses of foliage should not be placed in front, but 
should flank and form a background for the house. Placed too 
near a house, trees of dense foliage create dampness, injure the 
walls and roof, and impede the circulation of the air. A dra- 
pery of vines creeping or trailing over them, and twining around 
the porches, verandas, and windows, are among the most beau- 
tiful and appropriate decorations for a cottage ; and they are 
within the reach of everybody and should be universally em- 
ployed. See “The Garden”* for lists of ornamental trees, 
shrubs, and vines, and directions for planting them. 

VII.— COMMON ERRORS AND ABSURDITIES. 

The errors and absurdities in rural architecture committed 
in this country (and other countries are not free from them) 
are too numerous to admit even an enumeration here. The 
following are a few of the commonest and most glaring ones : 

1. Building a cottage of the dimensions of twenty feet by 
thirty, in imitation of a Grecian temple, with lofty columns of 
pain led wood, forming a grand portico in front. 

2. Building castellated villas with totvers and battlements of 
Lhin pine boards. 

3. Illustrating the Gothic style “run mad,” in wooden cot- 
tages composed principally of gables, and looking, Downing 
says, as if they had been “ knocked into a cocked hat.” 

4. Giving examples of all the principal styles of architecture 

* The Garden : a Manual of Practical Horticulture— the second number of 
this series. Price $1.00. 


44 


The House. 


in the same house — the roof, for instance, belonging to one style 
and age ; the doors and windows to another ; and the porches 
and verandas to a third. Corinthian columns supporting 
Gothic arches ! Very fine! 

5. Imitating a villa in a diminutive cottage, and jovering it 
all over with frippery and “ gingerbread work.” 

G. Supposing that ornament and beauty in architecture are 
synonymous, and consist in something extraneous and super-* 
added. 

7. Building houses to look at rather than to live in, and 
thereby making them “ distressingly fine.” 

8. Finishing and furnishing a splendid parlor for visitors 
and to “show off,” and living in a hare-walled, smoky, un- 
comfortable kitchen all one’s life. 

9. Imitating marble and granite in lath and plaster, and 
oak and walnut in soft pine and hemlock. 

10. Surrounding a house in the extreme North with veran- 
das or arcades, and building a Southern one without them. 

11. Mounting outside Venetian blinds upon a Gothic cottage 
or villa. 

12. Building a Swiss chalet or cottage on a level village 
street, or a narrow, three-story brick house to stand dignifiedly 
apart in a wild, secluded valley. 

13. Painting country houses white or red. 

14. Building in haste to repent at leisure ; or building a 
bouse first and planning it afterward. 

15. Building temporary shelters instead of homes. 


Cottages of One Stoky. 


45 


III. 

COTTAGES OF ONE STORY. 



I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled 
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near. — Moire. 

I.— PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

COTTAGE of one story, in thv sense 
in which we shall employ the term, 
is one in which the side walls do 
^ not rise above the second floor, 
^ which forms, as it were, the base of 
the roof. 

When properlj constructed, such 
cottages are both convenient and 
attractive. They favor economy of labor (no climbing of stairs 
being required), and are pleasing and unobtrusive objects in the 
landscape ; while small houses, carried up two or three stories 
in height, although they may be economically built, are far less 
conducive to labor saving, and, in the country at least, present 
a most unsightly appearance. 

The foundation walls of all low cottages should be raised 
somewhat above the level of the surrounding ground. They 
should be plain and simple in style and finish, the foliage of 
creeping and climbing plants furnishing their most appropri- 
ate ornament. 

In the designs which follow, we have endeavored to keep in 
mind the wants of small families of limited means, and have 
aimed to show how the largest amount of convenience and 
comfort may be secured for the smallest sum of money, and at 
the same time to impress upon the reader’s ‘mind the fact that, 
because a cottage may be small and cheap, it need not there- 


4(1 


The House 


fore the ugly. Taste need not always necessarily add to ex- 
pense, and the expression of beauty need not be lacking even 
in the rudest cabin or shanty. 

IL-A LOG CABIN. 

As our first design, we present a log cabin — a kind of dwelling 
which must continue to be common for a long time to come, in 
Fig. T 



Perspective View. 


parts of the West and South. The plan requires no explana- 
tion.. Space may be saved by building an outside chimney at 
each end, instead of the central one represented in the plan. In 
a warm climate the former is the better mode; but the un- 
sightly projections thus formed should be covered witl climb- 
ing and creeping plants. N.owhere can the Virginia creeper, 
the ivy, the jasmine, the trumpet flower, the clematis, the 
climbing roses, etc., be more appropriately disposed than around 
the veranda, windows, and gables of a log cabin. Our artisl 
nas been rather sparing of them, as also of trees in the accom- 
panying design, but they should be supplied in abundance. 
They are cheap adornments, and come within the reach of all 
In their proper place, the skill of the best architect can substi 


Cottages of One Story. 


47 


tute nothing equal- 
ly satisfactory. 

The leading ex- 
ternal feature in 
the foregoing per- 
spective view is 
the veranda in 
front, covered by 
the projecting roof. 
Its rustic posts 
should be covered 
with vines, among 
which the grape 
might appropriate- 
ly have a place. 


Fig. 3. 



Gkound Plan. 

Iir.-A HEXAGON PLAN. 

A Western correspondent, Mr. W. Holly, of St. Louis, fur- 
nishes the accompanying as an economical, simple, and con- 
venient plan for in- Fig. 9. 

closing and dividing a 
given space. The 
rooms, it will be seen, 
are all of the same 
size and form, and pre- 
sent the most compact 
arrangement possible. 

A single chimney, in 
„he center, furnishes 
fire-places for them all. 

Omitting its fire-place, 
the bed-room might be 
divided by a partition 
in the center, thus giving two small sleeping apartments. 
With plain walls and a flat roof, such a house could be put up 



4:8 


The House. 


on the prairies or in the forests of the West for a very sWLl 
sum ; and we do not see how the same amount of accommoda- 
tion can he more economically obtained. 

IY.— A PLAN FOE THEEE EOOMS, ETC. 

This excellent plan for a three-roomed cottage is borrowed, 

with modifications, 
from Village and 
Farm Cottages” by 
Cleveland & Back- 
us Brothers. It ex- 
plains itself ; and we 
venture to say that 
a better arrange- 
ment of the same 
amount of space can 
not easily be de- 
vised. A plain but 
substantial and plea- 
sing little structure 
on this plan, with 
the inside walls all 
neatly papered, a 
low projecting root^ 
and plain hoods 
over the windows, 
would cost, in this 
vicinity, from $550 
to $650. The laundry and wood-room would naturally be cov 
ered by a lean-to roof, or they might be omitted. If a cellai 
should be required, it might be under the kitchen, and entered 
from the wood-room. 


Estimates. — The circumstances on which the cost of a house 
will depend vary so greatly with time and place, that estimates 
made without a knowledge of these circumstances are only use 


Fig. 10. 



A- Living Eoom 14.0x15.0 

B— Hall 6.0 x 8.0 

C- Bed Eoom 12 0x16.6 

D— Kitchen. 12 0x15.0 

E — Wood Eoom 7.0 x 8.0 

F — Laundry 6.0 x 8.0 

G — Closets 


Cottages of One Story 


49 


ful as a basis of comparison and calculation. Where estimates 
are given in this work, they are calculated for the vicinity of 
Now York, and based on the following valuation in gold: 


Timber 

Rough boards 

Good lumber (planed) 

Bricks 

Nails 

Glass 

Carpenter’s work 

Mason's work 

Common labor 


t $20 00 per 1,000 feet. 
20 00 “ “ '* 

22 00 “ “ “ 


lo. 


4 00 “ box. 
1 75 *■ day. 
1 75 “ “ 

1 00 “ “ 


Whenever the cost of labor and materials is greater or less 
than that given in the foregoing table, the proper allowance 
must be made. 

V.— A SOUTHERN COTTAGE. 

This differs widely from all our previous designs, and indi- 
cates its adaptation to a different climate and different social 


Fin; U 



Perspective View. 


customs and habits. Its principal features are the veranda, 
which extends on all sides, and the broad hall running through 
the center. This ball furnishes access to every room, and facil- 
3 


50 


The House. 


itates a free circulation of air through the house. The living- 
room and the large bed-room may change places, where the 
situation and aspect render such a change desirable. The hay 

Eig. 12. 



Plan of a Southern Cottage. 


window adds much to the beauty and comfort of the parlor, 
but may be omitted if considerations of economy require. 

The elevation is plain but not unattractive, and, in its exter- 
nal features, very distinctly expresses its character as a South- 
ern dwelling. 

This will be found a comfortable and convenient home for a 
planter of small estate and means, or for an overseer on a large 
plantation. Its cost will vary much in different parts of the 
South. Built of wood, as represented in our perspective view, 
from $650 to $700 would perhaps be an average estimate. 


Cottages of One Story. 


51 


Verandas.* — The veranda is an essential feature of the 
Southern house. It should extend the entire length of two 
sides, at least, and it is better that it should, encircle the whole 
building. It may, however, if desired, be either wholly or 
partially inclosed on the north side, forming small rooms under 
its roof, as shown in fig. 52. There should be ventilating 
hooded apertures in the roof of the veranda for the escape of 
the heated air, which otherwise accumulates under it. 

VI.— ANOTHER CHEAP COTTAGE PLAN. 

Figs. 13 and 14 represent a plan for a house which would 
Fig. 13. 




conveniently accommodate a small family, and could be built at 
a small cost — say from $500 to $600. The general arrangement 
of 'the first floor is readily seen, and requires no explanation. 


* In this country a veranda is often improperly called a piazza. The latter 
is properly a more solid structure, and is defined as “ a continued archway or 
vaulting supported by pillars.” 


52 


The House. 


The veranda and projecting portion of the kitchen are to 
be covered by a continuation of the main roof on that side ; 
and the store-room and large pantry back of the kitchen and 
bed-room by a lean-to roof. The spring of the roof above the 
upper floor must be high enough to give head room at the 
landing of the stairs. This will allow the attic to be divided, 
as shown by fig. 14. 

Doors. — Entrance doors should furnish means of ventilation 
without being opened, either by means of side-lights, or fan- 
lights hung on hinges, or by ornamental iron gratings with 
solid or glazed panels, similarly hung, on the inside. 

Every entrance from without should open into a hall, entry, 
or lobby, to prevent the direct entrance of cold, and secure 
privacy. 

YII.— A PLAN FOR REPEATED ADDITIONS. 

It often happens that a man wTio may reasonably expect to 
be able, in the course of a few years, to build a large and hand- 
some house, is obliged to commence with a very limited amount 
of means. He might procure the necessary funds, perhaps, by 
means of “bond and mortgage,” but he chooses to take what 
seems to him a safer and better course. He resolves to put up 
so much of his house as he can pay for, and no more, even if it 
be but a single room ; and to complete the projected structure 
by repeated additions, as his means accumulate. To do this 
advantageously, the whole building must be planned at the com- 
mencement. The accompanying plans were suggested and de- 
signed to meet the requirements of a case like the one supposed. 

Our enterprising, energetic, and independent proprietor (as 
we will suppose) of a village lot first throws up the four walls, 
inclosing what is called in the plan the dining-room, to the 
height of one story, and covers them with a roof ; the whole 
being designed in strict accordance with the style of the build- 
ing of which it is to form a part. The apartment thus formed 
constitutes for a brief period his parlor, dining-room, kitchen, 
and perhaps his bed-room, although if he adopts the high pitched 


Cottages of One Story. 


53 


roof he may have two small attic rooms above, reached by a 
staircase afterward to be removed. A lean-to, comprising the 
adjoining bed-room, may be cheaply erected, and is soon added, 

Fig. 15. 



The kitchen, another lean-to, is next built, and the house be- 
comes a comfortable and convenient one for a small family. 
Our friend can now wait several years, if necessary, before 


54 


The House. 


building the main edifice, represented on the plan by the black 
lines; interposing in the mean time, if he chooses, another 
story over the dining-room. 

The parts now erected form quite a complete and commo- 
dious little house of themselves, and this part of the plan may 
be adopted, by itself, in cases in which its accommodations are 


Fig. 16. 



sufficient. In this case, there would be a door at a , and a hall 
and staircase (for which there is ample space) at 5, as repre- 
sented by the dotted line. There is supposed to be a cellar 
under the dining-room and kitchen, the original part being 
entered at first only from the outside. 

The second-floor plan shows four rooms besides a bath-room, 


Cottages of One Story. 55 

and ample closet accommodations. There should be a balcony 
at B, although not so represented in the plan. 

This plan will admit a Gothic elevation, but is, perhaps, 
rather better adapted to the Italian style. 


Plans. — Desiring to give as large a number of plans as pos- 
sible within the limits allowed us, we insert a number of them 
without elevations. The elevations given will illustrate the 
various styles of domestic architecture adapted to our climate 
and habits, and, with the necessary changes in general outlines, 
can readily be adapted to other plans. 


Scale. — Our plans, with a few exceptions specified in the 
proper place, are drawn to the scales of sixteen and thirty-two 
feet to the inch. Most of the geometrical elevations are on the 
scale of sixteen feet to the inch ; but in the perspective views 
it has not been practicable to adhere to a scale. 


Water-Closets. — Where running water can be introduced 
into a house and facilities for complete drainage exist, water- 
closets may be constructed in a country house without great 
trouble or expense, and will operate satisfactorily ; but unless 
all the arrangements connected with them can be made per- 
fectly effective , we would not advise their introduction, as they 
sometime's become intolerable nuisances. 

As a matter of economy the bath-room and water-closets 
are generally placed in connection. It is decid^&ly preferable, 
however, where it is practicable to do so, to separate them 
entirely. 

Outside Painting. — The best time to paint the outside of a 
house is late in the fall, as the paint hardens better and lasts 
much longer than when put on during the summer. 


Rats in Cellars. — To prevent rats from burrowing into 
cellars, either make a good water-lime floor, or else build the 


56 


The House. 


wall on a close-jointed flagging, laid some inches below the 
bottom of the cellar, and projecting three or four inches be- 
yond the wall. The rat burrows down next to the wall, 
reaches the flagging, and can not pass through it, never, in 
any case, working back to the edge . — Rural Annual. 


VIII.— AN EXTEMPOKE HOUSE. 

On the prairies and in the forests of the great West the 
“squatter” or claimant of pre-emption right on the govern- 
ment lands, throws up a little cabin or shanty as one of the 
conditions on which he is to make his claim good. It is an 
extempore affair, but serves its purpose, and by- and-by is pulled 
down. It may be built of logs or of sawed lumber ; and there 
is no reason why it should not present as attractive and home- 
like an exterior as that represented below. 


Fig. 17. 



StO R Y- AND- A - H ALF COTTAGES. 


57 


TV. 


STORY-AND-A-IIA LF COTTAGES. 


Homes for household comfort built — May. 



I.— PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

UR attention will now be directed to 
cottages of a story and a half. In 
houses properly thus designated the 
side walls rise from two to five feet 
above the second floor. They usually 
have either dormer or low, short win- 
dows in the sides. They afford hand- 
some and commodious chambers, and 
are among the best and most economical of 
small, cheap houses, the additional expense 
of the half story beiog comparatively small. 

Our designs for houses of this sort will be found, we, think, 
to combine, so far as is possible, the qualities of economy, 
convenience, and beauty. They are generally compact and 
simple in plan, and plain but substantial in construction, and 
present a modest and unpretending but pleasing exterior. We 
have had practical utility constantly in view in designing them, 
and we flatter ourself that all our plans will “ work” — that 
they will look as well and prove as satisfactory on the ground 
as on paper. 




II.- PLANS FOR A SMALL COTTAGE. 

These plans exhibit an arrangement of rooms well adapted to 
the use of a mechanic or laborer of small family and limited 
means. The living-room is a handsome apartment of good size, 
8 * 


58 


The House. 


entered from the lobby or hall, and also communicating with 
the kitchen. One chimney suffices for both. The lean-to 
part, extended beyond the kitchen, affords space for the cellar 
staircase, a passage to the back entrance, a room for fuel, etc., 
and a large closet or pantry. The stairs by which the second 
floor is reached commence in the kitchen, the first two steps 


Fig. 18. 




Second Floor Plan. 


projecting beyond the wall inside. The closet next the stairs 
is 4.6X5 clear, besides the available space under the stairs. 
The chamber plan shows three sleeping apartments, with ample 
closet accommodations. A cellar extending under the kitchen 
and the lean-to part would be sufficient. This plan is on the 
scale of twenty-four feet to an inch. A plain and simple eleva- 
tion, similar to that represented by fig. 27, would be suitable 
for this plan. 

III. — AH ITALIAN COTTAGE. 


The plans and elevations next presented were designed for 
this work by F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New 
York, from whom we give several other designs, and whom 
we can confidently recommend to any of our patrons who may 
wish to obtain the services of a thoroughly educated, compe- 
tent, and faithful architect. 

This design is simple, and requires little explanation. A 
cellar under a part of the house, as shown, will be found suf- 


Stoky-and-a-Half Cottages 


59 


ficient. It is made easy of access from the kitchen, and 
should an outside entrance be required, it may he had at a 
Fig. 20. 



living-room ; a kitchen of good size ; and ample closet accom- 
modations. 

The kitchen part of the house, in order to save expense in 
the foundation, and to gain more height in the garret, is set 




60 


The House. 



two risers, or about sixteen inches, lower than the main floor. 

The attic, or second floor, 
affords two fine bedrooms, 
with closets, and a useful 
open garret. „ 

The peculiar feature of 
this design is the one 
chimney, which answers 
for all the rooms. The 
flue of the kitchen fire- 
place is brought over to 
the chimney at the ceiling of the interven- 
ing closet, so as to be entirely out of sight 
and without taking away any room, and 
the parlor has a blind mantle with a stove- 
pipe hole, connecting also with the chim- 
ney by passing under the stairs. 

Cellar Plan. This co ttage can be built for $595 ; or 

if inclosed with clear, narrow clap-boards, for about $16 more. 

Fi g- 23. As an example to 

show the form of 
such a document, 
we give in the 
Appendix (I) Mr. 
Graef’s specifica- 
tions for such a 
cottage. 

Building for 
Show. — We often - 
er build to gratify the eyes of the 
public than our own, and fit up 
our dwellings to accommodate 
“ company,” or visitors, rather 
than our own families ; and in the 
indulgence of this false notion, sub 
Ftrst Floor p^an. ject ourselves to perpetual incon 



Story-and-a-Half Cottages. 61 


venience for the gratification of occasional hospitality, or osten- 
tation.— L. F. Allen. 


Fig. 24. Speaking Tubes. — 

Speaking tubes may be 
introduced with advan- 
tage into all houses, espe- 
cially those of more than 
one story. By their means 
a sort of telegraphic com- 
munication may be kept 
up between the kitchen 
and other parts of the 
house. They are particu- 
larly useful in the dining-room and family 
bedroom, where they save much time and 
labor. They are merely tin tubes of one 
and a half inches in diameter, terminated 
by mouth-pieces, one of which is in the 
kitchen and the other in the connected 


t ] 


Second Floor Plan. 
apartment. Their cost is trifling. 


IY.— AN ENGLISH COTTAGE PLAN. 

The first-floor plan of this design is modified from one found 
Fig. 25. 



First Floor Plan. 


62 


The House. 


in Field’s “ Kural Architecture,” and there said to be of En- 
glish origin. It presents a compact arrangement of rooms, 
with no waste space, and admits a symmetrical elevation 
either in the pointed or in the Italian style, as may be desired. 
The number of angles in the outside walls, however, renders it 
considerably more expensive to build than a square house with 


Fig. 26. 



equal interior accommodations. Many will consider the supe- 
rior beauty of such a building a full compensation for the extra 
expense. 

The bath-room, on the second floor, is to be lighted by hav- 
ing the upper half of the door glazed with ground glass. The 
opening marked A is to be an arch. The kitchen flue is to be 
carried through the wall into the jamb of the adjoining bedroom 
fire-place. In the dining-room, and in the bedroom over it, 
closets are obtained, and the effect of a bay secured by recess- 
ing one of the windows, a method which may frequently be 
adopted with advantage. 

Y.-A SUBURBAN COTTAGE. 

This design represents a small, but comfortable and conve- 
nient house for a family requiring but a moderate amount of 
space. As shown, it is better adapted for a village or suburban 
residence than for a farm-house, but with a little change in its 
plan would answer well for the latter. 


Story-and-a-Half Cottages. 63 


Fig. 27. 



Pekspectiye View. 

On the first floor an ample hall (7x13) furnishes access to a 
good-sized parlor (13X17) and a convenient kitchen (15X15) 

Fig. 28. 



(which will also serve as a dining-room), with a large pantry 
and a wash-room attached. On the other side of the kitchen 


The House. 


t>4 

or dining-room is a commodious family bedroom (12X15) 
with a fire-place and two large closets. The height of wall in 
Fig. 29. this story is 8 feet. 

The second, or attic, floor 
affords four good rooms, the 
walls rising four feet above the 
floor and the roof having a 
high pitch. The two front 
chambers communicate by a 
door, in order that they may 
be used in connection or sep- 
arately, as may be desired. 
The two in the rear may be 
very prettily finished by arch- 
ing the ceiling. 

The cellar extends under the 
parlor and hall. It is 4J feet excavation and 1| above ground. 

This house can be built of wood, in a plain but good and 
substantial manner, a hundred miles from New York, for about 
$800. It might be much improved by the addition of a bay 
window in the parlor and a veranda in front of the wing or L 
part. If designed for a farm-house, the wing might be extended 
in the rear, so as to furnish the additional accommodations 
required. In short, this is a plan which can be adapted to 
circumstances. Its dimensions may be reduced to one story, 
rendering the cost less than our estimate, or it may be made 
two full stories in height with the same size of rooms, or larger 
ones, without at all interfering with the general arrangement. 

VI.-A SMALL GOTHIC COTTAGE.* 

This is another of Mr. Graef’s designs, and shows an admir- 
able arrangement of accommodations for a family of six or 
seven persons. 

The rooms on the first floor may all be used in connection 



* F. E.'Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street. New York. 


Story- an d- a - H a l f Cottages 


65 



or each separately, as may be desired. Thus, if the Idtchen be 
used as a dining-room also, as is often the case in houses like 




66 


The House. 


Fig. 32. 



this, the apartment designated as a dining-room may be used 
as the family bedroom. 



Story-and- a-II alf Cottages. 


67 


If desirable, the two main bedrooms on the second floor may 
communicate in the same way as the parlor and dining-room 
below. There is a good-sized cock-loft of easy access, in which 
another small bedroom might be arranged. 

This design, with dormer windows, veranda, hood over the 
back door, and tracery on the gables, as shown, can be execu- 
ted for $1,125. The same ground plan, with elevations finished 
in a plain, bracketed style, without dormer windows, may be 
executed for $125 less. 


Attic Rooms. — All attic rooms, even in the plainest house, 
should be back-plastered between the rafters. This costs but 
little, and serves to render the rooms cooler in summer and 
warmer in winter than they otherwise would be. 


Architectural Finery. — “ I am no advocate for meanness of 
private habitation. I would fain introduce into it all magnif- 
icence, care, and beauty, where they are possible ; but I would 
not have that useless expense in unnoticed fineries or formal- 
ities ; cornicings of ceilings and graining of doors, and fringing 
of curtains, and thousands such things, which have become 
foolishly and apathetically habitual — things on whose common 
appliance hang whole trades, to which there never yet belonged 
the blessing of giving one ray of real pleasure, or becoming of 
the remotest or most contemptible use — things which cause 
half the expense of life, and destroy more than half its comfort, 
manliness, respectability, freshness, and facility. I speak from 
experience ; I know what it is to live in a cottage with a deal 
floor and roof, and a hearth of mica slate ; and I know it to be 
in many respects healthier and happier than living between a 
Turkey carpet and gilded ceiling, besides a steel grate and pol- 
ished fender.” — RusTcin. 


A Hew Method of Ventilation. — A syphon ventilator, 
applicable to the ventilation of houses, ships, etc., has lately 
been patented in England. The principle of the invention 


68 


The House. 


consists in creating, by means of a tube or shaft fixed in the 
roof of a building, two opposite currents, one of which carries 
off the impure air while the other introduces fresh air, the tem- 
perature being regulated by simple appliances in the shape of 
valves. This ventilator never permits the accumulation of foul 
air at the top of an apartment. In summer time, by opening 
the valves to the full extent, the temperature may be rendered 
the same within as without ; while in winter time, the artificial 
heat, by means of fires or warming apparatus, of whatever 
nature, causes the impure air to ascend with such a degree of 
velocity that, by partially opening the valves, it is carried away 
very rapidly. 

VII -A SYMMETRICAL COTTAGE. 

This is a house of greater pretension, in reference to style, 
and of higher cost than either of the preceding. Its Symmet- 
ry. 84i 





lical form, handsome porch, and ample verandas give it an ex- 
pression of elegance combined with convenience and comfort. 


Story-and-a-Half Cottages. 


69 


The various apartments on the first floor are compactly anc 
conveniently arranged, each being accessible from the hall 
without passing through another. The dining-room, which 
may also be used as the common family sitting-room, is a good- 
sized and handsome apartment. The kitchen, without opening 
directly into the dining-room, is easy of access and convenient. 
It has liberal pantries or closets marked c c in the plan. If re- 
quired for a farm-house, a lean-to might be cheaply added in 
the rear, affording a dairy-room, wash-room, and other needed 
accommodations. The parlor might be improved, at a moderate 
expense, by the addition of a bay window. 

Fig. 35. 



On the second floor we have three bedrooms with closets; 
a bath-room and water-closet; and a small room over the porch, 
which would be a very pleasant summer apartment in which 
to work or read; or it might be used as a bedroom. Tho 


70 


The House. 


bath-room and rear bedroom are entered from the first land- 
ing of the stairs, this part of the house being two and a half 
feet lower than the front part. 

The style of the elevation is that modification of the Gothic 


Fig. 36. 



which prevailed in England in the reign of James I. We are 
not aware that any examples of this style have yet been erect 
ed in this country. 


A Cedar Closet. — A closet or press for linens or woolens 
should, if practicable, be supplied with cedar shelves. 


A Sixk. — A sink on the second floor for the use of the 
chamber-maid, when it can be economically planned and 
rightly managed, is very convenient. 


71 


Stoky-and-a-II alf Cottages. 


YIII.-A SEMI-SOUTHERN COTTAGE. 

This is a house well adapted to the Middle and Southern 
States, although for the latter a veranda should be thrown 
Fig. 37. 



Perspective Y iew. 


around the front and sides. The design of the elevation is a 
Fig. 38. borrowed one. The annex- 



ed plans were designed in 
adaptation to it by John 
Crumly, Architect, New 
York. 


A — Reception Room. 
B— Conservatory — 
C— Dining Room. . 

D— Parlor 

E— Hall 

F— Pantry 

G— Kitchen 

H — Breakfast Room . 

X— Store Room 

K— Closets. 

L- Back Hall 


. 9.0x11.6 
. 9.0x11.6 
.18.0x25.0 
.18.0x25.0 
. 8.6 wide 
. 5.0 x 9.0 
.13.6x18.0 
.11.0x13.6 
. 4.6x 9.6 
. 4.6 wide 


First Floor Plan. 


The two small rooms 
marked A and B, in the 
first-floor plan, which com- 


72 


The House. 


municate so conveniently both with the hall and with the ad- 
joining rooms, form a peculiar feature in this plan. In a vil- 
lage or suburban dwelling they may be made to minister to 
use as well as to beauty, 
whether their office may 
be such as we have indi- 


A— Dressing Eoom 9.0x11.0 

B— Boudoir s.Ox 9.0 

C — Dressing Eoom 9.0 xl 1 .6 

D — Bed Eoom 11.0x18.0 

E— Hall 8.6 wide 

E— Bed Eoom 18.0x25.0 

G— Balcony 

H— Bed Eoom 11.0x18.0 

I — Closets... 

J — Cedar Closet 

K-Bed Eoom 13.6xT5.0 

L— Bath..., 

M — Bed Eoom 11.6x13.6 

N— Back Hall 4.6 wide 

O— Lumber Eoom 4.6x 9.6 


cated or not. The broad 
and unobstructed front 
hall, running quite through 
the main building, is ex- 
pressive of breathing space, fresh air, and summer comfort, 
and forms a commodious ante-chamber to the rooms on each 
side. The kitchen (G) communicates with the dining-room 
(O) through the pantry (F) as well as by way of the back hall. 
The room marked A may be used for a bedroom, if not re- 
quired for the purpose we have indicated. 

On the second floor we have an admirable arrangement of 
sleeping apartments, dressing-rooms, closets, and other accom- 
modations. 

These plans are on the scale of thirty-two feet to the inch. 


Fig. 39. 



Houses of Two Stories 


78 


V. 

HOUSES OF TWO STORIES. 

Here the architect 

Did not with curious skill a pile erect 
Of carved marble, touch, or porphyry, 

But built a house for hospitality.— Carew. 

I.— A GOTHIC COTTAGE. 


Fig. 40. 



Peespective View.* 


T'HIS handsome cottage very appropriately commences the 
chapter and connects it with the preceding; the center being 
two stories in height, and the wings only a story and a half. 
Its two verandas, its fine bay windows, its balcony, its hand- 


Designed by John Crumly, Architect, New York. 

4 


74 


The House. 


some gable, and its grouped chimney stacks, give to this house 
an expression of simple elegance, combined with all the com- 
fort and convenience that a cottage residence can well afford ; 
and we are much deceived if this design do not prove a favor- 
ite among the patrons of our little manual. 


Fig. 41. 



The arrangement of the rooms on the first floor is compact 
and convenient. The parlor, although not large, is a very 
handsome apartment, and is conveniently connected with the 
sitting-room, so that the two can be used en suite if necessary. 
A door opening from the sitting-room into the porch may easily 
be had if desired, but would render the room somewhat colder in 
winter. The large room in the rear will serve as a wash-room, 
as well as a place for fuel. If the house should be built on a 


Ito uses of Two Stories. 75 

farm, the milk-room would occupy a part of the room just 
mentioned, the wood-shed being extended beyond. 

On the second floor we have four fine sleeping-rooms and a 
bath-room, each with its separate entrance from a hall or pas- 
sage. The front bedroom, with its fire-place and its balcony, 


Fig. 42. 



is a particularly fine apartment. If it be desired to preserve 
the chimney projection, closets may be obtained by recessing 
the window, as in the case of the room at the left. 

A cellar under the library and hall would he sufficient, unless 
it he built as a farm-house. 

II.— A COUNTRY PARSONAGE* 

This design, with a few trifling alterations, has been executed 
for the use of a country clergyman, in which case the front 
room on the right hand was set apart for the study. It is 
equally adapted to the use of a layman. 

Two-story frame houses, with accommodations such as this 
affords, and with handsome and substantial finish both out- 


* F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 


76 


The House. 



side and inside, can not generally be built for less than $3,000 ; 
but in this case the building committee applied to the architect 



Side Elevation. 



77 


Houses of Two Stories. 

for plans and specifications for a house containing a parlor, a 
dining-room, a study or sitting-room, and liberal halls, stairs, 
and closets on the first floor ; five rooms on the second floor , 
and a handsome outside appearance, the whole to cost not 
over $2,200. Here was a somewhat difficult problem. The 
accompanying plans and elevations show how successfully Mr. 
Fig. 45. 



Graef has solved it, the actual cost being but $50 over the 
sum named by the committee. 

There is a large cellar under the house, with convenient ac- 
cess, both from the inside and the outside. Besides the rooms 
shown in the plans, two bedrooms might be had at a small 
expense in the well-lighted open garret. 


78 


The House. 


All the materials used in the construction of this house are 
of approved quality. The frame is of strong pine and hemlock 
timber ; the outside is inclosed with clear, narrow clap-hoards ; 
the roof is covered with cedar shingles, and painted ; the floors 
are of 1£ inch mill-worked pine plank ; the doors are 1J inch 
thick, paneled, and furnished with mortice locks; all casings, 


Fig. 46. 



inside and outside, are handsome, bold, and executed after 
working drawings ; the windows are glazed with single, thick 
French glass ; the parlor, dining-room, study, and front hall 
are hard finished and have molded cornices, and the other 
rooms, landings, etc., with the best brown wall. All outside 
studdings are back-plastered ; the whole of the wood-work 


79 


Houses of Two Stories. 

ordinarily painted is covered with two coats of zinc paint; the 
usual gas-pipes are put in; and the kitchen sink is supplied 
with water from the street. 

We have been thus particular in reference to the materials 
and construction of this hpuse, because, having been built, its 
actual cost is known, and will serve as a basis on which to cal- 
culate approximately the cost of other similar houses * 

HI. — “ FRUITLAND” cottage. 

The accompanying design represents a house erected at 
“ Fruitland,” near Augusta, Georgia, by D. Redmond, Esq., one 
of the editors of the Southern Cultivator. It is a concrete or 

Fig. 47. 



gravel-wall building, and the mode of its construction may be 
found detailed in the Appendix. Mr. Redmond appends to the 
design the following remarks : 

“The most obvious requirements of a Southern country 
house are— ample space , shade, and ventilation. Where land is 

* Mr. Graef will be bappy to famish working drawings of this or any of hi9 
designs, should they be required. 


80 


The House. 


abundant and cheap, the ground plan should be so extended as 
to get all the room needed as near the ground as possible, and 
avoid the fatiguing ascent of high flights of stairs. On any 


Fig. 48. 



First Floor Plan. 


10f dining-room, 21x18; P., pantry, 18x12, adjoin- 

ing the dining-room; S. K., store-room, 18x18, next to pantry; O., office • B 
bath-room ; D., dairy, 18x 9 ; F. K., fruit-room* * * ’ ’ ’ 


proper location, where the land is high, dry, and airy, a base- 
ment entirely above the surface , , with one story above that, for 
parlor, sleeping-rooms, etc., will be found well adapted to’ the 
wants of a modern family. Externally, the house should 
present a reasonable degree of architectural style, correspond- 
ing with the interior, and in harmony with the surrounding 
scenery. Thus, while a Swiss or Gothic cottage would be out 
of place in a low, level, and warm country— a flat-roofed Tus- 


* For the ripening of pears, keeping of winter fruits, etc. When not used 
for the intended purpose, the latter room may serve as a general lumber-room 
or a servant’s bedroom. ’ 



Houses of Two Stories. 


81 


can or Italian villa would be equally inappropriate amid the 
heavy snow-storms and wild tempests of the Alps. This sense 
of fitness should naturally lead us, in the erection of a country 
house for the South, to study carefully the peculiarities of our 
climate and surroundings, in addition to our own individual 
wants, and to modify existing modes into what some one has 
called the ‘ comfortable and convenient,’ as distinguished from 
the merely ‘ornamental’ styles of architecture. 

“ The site of the house represented on page 79 is upon a pic- 



i 


II., hall, 53x10 feet; L., library, 21x18; B. R., B. R., B. R., three bedrooms, 
respectively 18x15, 18x14, and 18x11; P., parlor, 21x18; P. B. R., parlor bed- 
room, 18x15 ; o , c., c., closets. 


turesque elevation in the orchard at ‘ Fruitland.’ It is on the 
dividing ridge between Rae’s Creek and the Savannah River, 
and from the peculiar formation of the locality commands a 
4* 


82 


The House. 


very beautiful prospect of the city of Augusta, the opposite 
hills of South Carolina, and the surrounding country. 

By reference to the elevation and accompanying plans, it 
will he seen that the house is a nearly square structure of two 
stories, fifty by fifty-five feet, entirely surrounded and shielded 
from sun and storm by an ample veranda, ten feet wide. This 
veranda is supported by twenty columns of solid pine, one foot 
in diameter, turned tapering, and bored entirely through length- 
wise, to prevent outside shrinkage. These columns rest on 
square brick pillars, built up on concrete foundations. The 
lower story, or basement, contains the dining-room, pantry, 
store-room, office, bathing-room, fruit-room, and ice-house — in 
short, all the working rooms , or apartments for every-day prac- 
tical use ; while the second story contains the library, parlor, 
bedrooms, closets, etc. Two -large halls, fifty-three by ten 
feet, run directly through the building, securing perfect venti- 
lation. The second story has transom-lights over each door 
and opposite the outer windows, to admit the freest possible 
circulation of pure air. The basemeut floor is raised several 
inches above the surface , filled in with pounded rock and gravel, 
and laid in cement, which adheres firmly to the walls, thus af- 
fording perfect security against fire, dampness, and the depre- 
dations of rats and other vermin. The stairs leading from the 
basement to the second floor, and thence to the observatory or 
cupola, are removed to one side of their usual position in the 
halls, leaving the latter entirely free and unobstructed. The 
lower division walls, separating the hall from the dining-room, 
office, etc., are built of concrete, one foot thick, but all the 
partitions, above and below, are lathed and plastered. Two 
chimneys afford six fire-places, with flues for stove-pipes, etc. 
The windows are large, and so hung on springs that the upper 
sash can be let down and kept in a fixed position, for ventila- 
ting purposes. The roof is ‘ hipped,’ or four- sided, and covered 
with the best cypress shingles.” 


83 


Houses of Two Stories. 

IV.- S. H. MANN’S OCTAGON PLAN. 

This plan was designed by Mr. S. H. Mann, of Beloit, Wis., 
and first appeared in the Country Gentleman , together with 
basement and chamber plans. We give this alone, as furnish- 
Fig. 50. 



ino- hints, at least, toward the best possible arrangement of 
rooms within octagon walls, and giving the reader an oppor- 
tunity to compare this form with the rectangular. Our indi- 
vidual opinion on the subject has already been expressed. 

Y.-A SOUTHERN HOUSE. 

This design was made to meet the wants and tastes of a 
particular family, but will, we trust, be foun4, in its main 
features, to be equally well adapted to- the use of many others 
It is planned on a liberal and at the same time an economical 
scale, the halls, stairs, veranda, arcade, balcony, etc., being 


Fig. 51. 



A Southern House — Perspective View. 




Houses of Two Stories. 85 


Fig. 52. 



spacious, to meet the requirements of a warm climate, while 
the rooms are of a moderate hut comfortable size, and no 
waste of space is allowed. The plan may be easily modified 

Fig. 53. 



Second Floor Plan. 


86 


The House. 


by omitting the wing, carrying the veranda to the rear, and 
inclosing, if desired, the space now occupied by the arcade. 
The. disposition of the various apartments on both floors was 
made with strict reference to comfort and convenience, and 
shows for itself in the plans. 

The elevation is in the Italian style, with only such modi- 
fications as the necessities of climate and materials seem to 
render necessary, and presents a handsome and characteristic 
appearance. It was designed under our directions by Mr. John 
Crumly, Architect, of Mew York, who will furnish working 
drawings, specifications, etc., if desired. 

YL— A SQUAEE COTTAGE. 

The accompanying plans and elevation represent a medium- 
sized two-story house, so divided as to combine convenience 


Fig. 54. 



Pebspectivk View. 


with economy of space. The main part of the house is exactly 
square, giving more inclosed space for the amount of wall than 
any other rectangular form. A hall extends through the house, 


Houses of Two S tobies. 


87 


from which doors open from each room, thus securing a free 
circulation of air. The bow windows in the parlor and dining- 
room, as well as the verandas in front and rear, although very 
desirable, may be dispensed with if it be required to build for 
the smallest possible sum. 


Fig. 5&. 



On the first floor we have a parlor (12X17), a living-room 
(12X14), library (12X11), a dining-room (12X16), and, in the 
wing, a kitchen (12X14). If wanted for a farm-house, a dairy- 
room can be added to the kitchen. 


88 


The House. 


On the second floor we have four large bedrooms, a large 
hall-closet, a bath-room, and a dressing-room. We have made 
the bedroom over the parlor a little irregular in shape, which 
allows two good closets to each room. If this irregularity be 


Fig. 56. 



objected to, a closet for each room may be obtained in the 
way shown for the rooms on the other side of the hall. Next 
to the bath-room are stairs leading to the attic or roof. 

First story is to be 11 feet high ; second story 10 feet high, 
clear. There is a cellar 6J feet high under part of the house, 
with entrance to it under main stairs and outside entrance. 
Cellar walls and foundation are 12 inch brick walls, or 20 inch 
stone walls. It is inclosed with narrow, clear clap-boards. 
Cornices, caps, etc., to have a bold projection. Main roof to 
be covered with tin ; kitchen roof to be covered with shingles. 
All rooms, landings, and closets are to be hard finished. Floors 
to be of mill- worked pine plank. All outside walls and second- 
story ceilings to be back-plastered. Room doors are 1 } inch 
thick; closet doors, 1| inch — all. paneled. Inside casings to 
have back-bands and back -moldings, except to closets. 



Houses of Two Stories. 


89 


The estimated cost, including marble mantles to all fire- 
places, but exclusive of plumbing work and gas-pipes, will not 
exceed $2,800. It may be built, however, with lower ceilings 
and plainer in and outside finish, without destroying in the 
least the general appearance, for $2,300. 

VII.— A STONE COUNTRY HOUSE. 

This design shows a house of rather more pretension than 
the last. The size and location of the rooms can be seen at a 
glance. The halls give access to every room without passing 


Fig. 57. 



through another. They are lighted by a window over tb 
front door and by having the bedroom door half sash. 

The second story has the kame general plan as the first, 
giving five large bedrooms, a batli-room, and a fine small room 
in front hall. The stairs to the attic adjoin the back passage. 


90 


The House. 



As persons may be differently situated, so they might desire 
some changes in the general plan, which can be easily made 
without interfering with the rest. A wing, projecting either 

Fig. 5S. 


to the rear or the side of the kitchen, for pantry, wash-room, 
dairy, or whatever may be needed, can be readily added. 
Some would prefer to make the library in an oval or octagonal- 
style, as indicated by the dotted lines, with closets in the cor- 
ner, dispensing with those in the hall. 

Fig. 59 shows the perspective view. 

This house is designed to be built of roughstone walls, neatly 
pointed, and have dressed blue or brown stone corners and 
dressings. The roof is covered with slates. 


Second Floor Plan. 


. 59. —A Stone Country House — Perspective View.- By F. 



92 


The House. 

VIII.— A CIECULAE HOUSE. 

There are queer people in the -world — a great many of them 
—and it is not strange that there are also queer houses. Now, 
as our little book is made for everybody, it is but just that 
queer people and their houses should be represented in it. 


Fig. €0. 



PErspECTivE View. 


Yerv few persons, we presume, will desire to build a circu- 
lar house, although it is the form, as geometry demonstrates, 
in which the greatest possible space may be inclosed by a given 
amount of wall ; but for the oddity of the thing, or because 
economy of space may be secured, somebody may wish to do 
it, and look for a design to adopt or imitate. Here it is ! 

This circular house, in many respects quite original in its 
plan, was erected by Enoch Eobinson, Esq., at Spring Hill, 
Somerville, Massachusetts. No timber was used in its con- 


Houses oe Two Stories. 


93 


struction. The walls are made of plank sawed on a circle of 40 
feet (the diameter of the house), nailed together, one above the 
other, in regular courses. The windows are made of four large 
panes of glass, in a single sash, which slides up into the wall, 
entirely out of the way. The inside blinds are arranged in the 
same manner. 

The oval parlor is 24 feet long by 15 feet wide. The cir- 
cular library, opposite, -is 13 feet in diameter, leaving a fine 
front entry between these two curves. The kitchen, next the 
circular library, has a slate floor and walls of varnished white- 
wood. Between the kitchen and the large dining-room is the 
Fig. 61. 



chimney and the kitchen and dining-room closets, so arranged 
as to occupy very little room. 

On the second floor are seven chambers, two of them quite 
large, all opening into a pleasant rotunda, 13 feet in diameter, 
beneath the central skylight. 


94 : 


The House. 


The accompanying sketch and plans will give a good idea of 
the general appearance and arrangement of this truly original 
and unique edifice. 

Though made of the best materials, and of superior work- 


rig. 62. 



manship, this building was erected at an expense much less 
than that of a square house erected in the ordinary way. 


Okxamexting the Roof. — A good effect is produced on the 
steep roofs of Gothic houses by cutting the shingles in certain 
patterns before laying them. One of the simplest forms is 
made by cutting the end of each shingle to a point, so as to 
form a diamond pattern when laid. The shingles must be of 
good quality and uniform width and thickness. These orna- 
mental shingles may also be used with good effect instead of 
boards, for the outside covering of wooden cottages, forming a 
warm and durable wall. 


Houses of Two Stories 


95 


IX.— A SWISS COTTAGE * 

This design, like most others representing cottages and 
houses in the Swiss style, and intended for execution in this 
country, lacks some of the peculiarities of the genuine Swiss 
cottage, as it is seen in Switzerland. Both the external finish 
and the internal arrangements are necessarily modified, to 
adapt them to our climate and habits. The architect has, 
therefore, aimed to retain the general character of the style 


Fig. 63. 



Perspective View. 


merely, and to produce an effect as little removed from that of 
the original chaUt as the circumstances permit. 

The plans require little explanation. A cottage of the di- 
mensions of this ought to have both front and back stairs, but 
to save expense we have made one flight serve in this case. 
The front entrance is into a lobby, from which both the par- 
lor and the dining-room are entered. These rooms also open 
into the stair hall, which is conveniently placed for daily use, 
and from which the kitchen is entered. The latter has also a 
separate entrance, from the outside, through the sink-room. A 
cellar under a part of the house would be sufficient. 


F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 


96 


The House. 


This design, executed in wood, will cost, according to the 
architect’s estimate, $2,300. Foundation or cellar walls to be 
either stone sixteen inches thick, or of brick eight inches thick ; 

Fig. 64. Fig. 65. 




first-story rooms and landings to be hard finished ; second-floor 
rooms and landings to be brown wall for papering ; inclosing 
to be done with clap-boards ; roof to be tinned. The ground 
plans must be reversed, to agree with the perspective view. 


Seev ants’ Bedrooms. — These are generally, and for obvious 
reasons, placed in the attic (where there is one) ; but, where 
it can be so arranged, it is well to have a bedroom opening out 
of the kitchen, or of easy access from it, for the person whose 
duty it is to be last in that apartment at night and first in the 
morning. It saves many steps. 


Importance of Arrangement. — A great deal of labor, espe- 
cially of women, is saved by an economical arrangement of the 
more common rooms ; and hundreds of miles in walking, in 
the aggregate, avoided annually by a few feet of lessened dis- 
tance between the principal points. — J. J. Thomas. 


Houses of Two Stories. 


97 


X.— A DOUBLE COTTAGE.* 

On account of the economy thus secured, it is sometimes 
desirable to build two distinct dwellings under one roof. This 
arrangement saves not only part of the material, but all the 
exterior covering and finish of two walls ; and as three sides 
are still open to the light and air, no serious disadvantage need 
arise from their exclusion on the other side. Such houses, 
however, must be skillfully planned in order to avoid dark and 


Fig. 66. 



badly ventilated rooms. The accompanying design, we think, 
meets the requirements of such a house in a very satisfactory 
manner, and is offered with confidence to persons desiring to 
build two dwellings in one. 

It will be seen that the two houses, although similar in their 
general features, are considerably varied in their details. We 


John Crumly, Architect, New York. 


98 


The House. 


find the same rooms in each, hat their sizes, forms, and relations 
to each other are different. For instance, on one side we have 
the parlor and breakfast-room arranged en suite, with sliding 
doors between them, while on the other they merely commu- 
nicate by means of common doors. The sitting-rooms also 
differ in form and size, and so on. This gives persons purpos- 
ing to adopt such a design a choice of plans, as both houses 


Pig. or. 



may be built like the right-hand plan, both like the left-hand 
plan, or each differing from the other, as shown. The two 
houses afford a fine front, and may have a handsome elevation 
in such a style as may be preferred. 

As a general thing, however, we think double houses not 
desirable, and that all that is saved in the expense of erection 
is more than paid for by the inconvenience of having neighbors 
so near. Nearly all houses in cities, it is true, are built so close 
as a double house ; but in cities there are no such things as 
neighbors, and families live in adjoining houses for years with- 
out any acquaintance. 


Farm-IIouses. 


99 


VI. 

FARM-HOUSES. 


Between broad fields of wheat and corn. 

Is the lowly home where I was born ; 

The peach-tree leans against the wall, 

And the woodbine wanders over all. — T. B. Read, 

I.— PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 



ONVENIENCE and comfort are the first re- 
quirements of a farm-house; hut there is no 
reason here, more than in any other sort of 
residence, why regard should not be had to beauty of ex- 
ternal features. The farmer may properly have as hand- 
mw 7 some a house as the village lawyer or doctor, and in its 
general features it need not differ widely from that of either. 
It is mainly its adjuncts — its barns, stables, piggery, poultry- 
house, and other out-buildings — that give the residence of the 
agriculturist its peculiar appearance. Almost any of our de- 
signs, with slight modifications — mainly the enlargement of 
the kitchen and its offices, the addition of a milk-room, etc. — 
may be adapted to the uses of a farm-house. For this reason 
we content ourselves with giving two or three houses planned 
with special reference to the farm. 

Permanency should characterize the farm-house, therefore 
we should be glad to see brick and stone brought into more 
general use in the construction of such building-;. Rough stone 


100 


The House. 


is an admirable material for a farm-house and may often be 
advantageously used. Concrete, too, in favorable situations, 
and with due regard to the essential conditions already men- 
tioned (in Chapter II.), may be adopted with profit, instead of 
wood. But whatever the material may be, let the construction 
be substantial and enduring. 

“The kitchen,” some one has said, “is the heart of the 
farm-house.” Let it receive a large share of attention in your 
plan. See that it is large; well lighted; well-ventilated ; pro- 
vided with a large pantry, a sink, etc., and convenient of access. 
Domestic help is not generally abundant in the farmer’s family. 
Too much labor, at best, devolves upon the mistress. ¥e 
should have reference to labor-saving, then, in every arrange- 
ment. To these ends we hope our plan will furnish useful hints. 

II.— A MODEL FARM-HOUSE * 

This design is presented by the architect as a model farm- 
house, suitable for a farmer in easy circumstances and with 
the taste and culture which should accompany such a eon- 


Fig. 68. 



Front Elevation. 


dition in life. For less expensive farm-houses, almost any of 
our cottage designs, with slight alterations, will serve. 


F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 


F A km-H ouses . 


101 


The prominent features of this design are its great extent on 
the ground, compared with that of the second story ; com- 
pactness in the arrangement of the rooms ; and the compara- 


Fig. 69. 



Sidk Elevation, 

tive prominence given to the kitchen and its offices; all of 
which promote the saving of labor and indicate adaptation to 
the uses of a farm-house. 

The front hall and back hall, with their respective entrances, 
are separated, so that the front hall, parlor, family bedroom, 
or sitting-room (according 
to the use which may be 
made of it) may always 
be kept clean and free 
from unnecessary contact 
with the every-day work 
of the house; while the 
back hall serves for all the 
common uses of the house- 
hold. At the same time 
the ventilation and cool- 
ness of the whole in sum- 
mer is secured by opening 
the door by which the halls communicate. The kitchen, dairy, 
and other domestic offices, it will be seen, are admirably situ- 



First Floor Plan. 



102 


The House. 


ated in reference to the back hall and entrance. The second 
or attic floor affords four bedrooms, all of whicli are provided 


Fig. 71. 


with large closets, and 
may he warmed. 

The exterior presents 
a decidedly rural appear- 
ance, and indicates the 
character of the house 
at a glance. Its veranda, 
'\ porch, bay window, and 
j curved roof with dormer 
^ windows, give it an ex- 
! pression by no means 
j commonplace, but quite 
picturesque. 

Executed in wood, 
and finished throughout in a substantial and liberal style, and 
with a cellar under the whole, this house will cost $2,250. It 
is also very suitable for execution in stone or brick. 



BED RM. |jji 

— l 

I BEORMi.h 
| 12X15 

BED RM. bet- 

* ^ Ff 

V — \ 

H u"u r[ 

i BED RM. 

\Zl 


Second Floor Plan. 


III.— A FARM-HOUSE PLAN. 

This plan, in its general features, is borrowed from Lewis 
E. Allen’s excellent work on u Farm Houses, Cottages, etc.,” 
but is so modified in most of its details that it would not be 
just to hold Mr. Allen responsible for any fault it may contain. 

In this plan, as in the previous one, the front hall is sepa- 
rated from the back hall by a door, to shut out, when occasion 
requires, all the sights and sounds of the kitchen from the 
parlor and living-room. The living or family-room is a large 
apartment, and will serve as a dining-room when the kitchen, 
which in farm-houses is generally used for this purpose, may 
prove too small, or be otherwise occupied. These two rooms 
may be made to communicate by means of a door where the 
closet is represented in the design. We have dispensed with 
the back stairs, which are, however, very desirable, and may be 
had in the back hall by making it a little wider at the expense 


Fakm-Houses. 


103 


Fig. 72. 

BED 

/at 

1 1 

WORK SHOP 
TOOL HOUSE 
14. x/e 

|iLLLlJ ’ 

CARR/ AC EH. 1 
12 X 18 \ 

ROOMW ARm \ 

j? x | 


of the bedroom, or by omitting the store-room. Connected 
with the kitchen fire-place is an oven, which, in our hum- 
ble opinion, no cooking 
stove or range yet in- 
vented renders useless. 

In the wing, the pantry, Ypen 
milk-room, wash-room, 
bath-room, and privy 
are conveniently arrang- 
ed. Beyond these, and 
separated from them by 
the wood-shed, are the 
piggery, work-shop, sta- 
ble, etc. 

The main building 
should be two stories in 
height, and the wing a 
story and a half. We 
omit a second floor 
plan, which may easily 
be arranged from this, 
which we give rather 
as a hint or suggestion 
than as a finished de- 
sign. 



Old Roofs. — When- 
ever a roof begins to 
leak, and you wish to Fikst Floor Plan - 

re-shingle it, do not take off the old shingles — put the new 
shingles on top of the old ones — but make use of six-penny 
nails in place of four-penny or shingle nails. The advantage 
of this method will consist in the following particulars : 

1. Will save the expense of removing the shingles. 

2. The building will not be exposed to wet in case of rain 
before it is finished. 



104 


The House. 


3. The roof will be much warmer and tighter. 

4. Neither snow nor rain can heat under the butts of the 
shingles by heavy winds. 

5. The roof will last full one third longer. 

I have tried this plan, and find that it has these advantages : 
It takes no more shingles, no more nails in number — only a 
little longer — and no more time to put them on, and if done in 
a workmanlike manner, it will look as well as if single. But 
it should be done before the old shingles are too much decayed. 

All the moss — if any — should be removed or swept off with 
a stiff broom before putting on the new shingles . — Rational 
Era. 


V ILL AS. 


105 


VII. 

VILLAS. 


Here no state chambers In long line unfold, 

Bright with broad mirrors, rough with fretted gold, 
Yet modest ornament with use combined 
Attracts the eye to exercise the mind. 

I.-WHAT IS A VILLA? 




, ISTORICALLY, the question is readily an- 
, swered. It was originally a summer residence 
in the vicinity of an Italian city, erected for 
^ occupation merely during the warm season. The word 
* ■ is now used with a wider signification. 

-■ '.A According to Downing, “ what we mean by a villain 
the United States, is the country house of a person of 
competence or wealth sufficient to build and maintain it with 
some taste and elegance — the most refined home of America — 
the home of its most leisurely and educated class of citizens.” 

“ What, then,” continues Mr. Downing, “ should the villa be 

architecturally? It should be, firstly, the most 

convenient — secondly, the most truthful or significant — and 
thirdly, the most beautiful, of dwellings. 

“ The villa should indeed be a private house where beauty, 
taste, and moral culture are at home. In the fine outlines of 
the whole edifice, either dignified, graceful, or picturesque ; in 
the spacious or varied verandas, arcades, and windows ; in the 
select forms of windows, chimney-tops, cornices, the artistic 


106 


The House. 


feeling has fall play : while in the arrangement of spacious apart- 
ments, especially the devotion of a part to a library or cabinet, 
sacred to books, and in that elevated order and system of the 
whole plan, indicative of the inner domestic life, we find the 
development of the intellectual and moral nature, which char- 
acterizes the most cultivated families in their country houses.” 

II.— A SMALL VILLA IN THE ITALIAN" STYLE. 

This, although not a large house, is planned on a more lib- 
eral scale, and betokens more expensive tastes, than any of 
Fig. 73. 



Fbont Eleyation. 


the designs hitherto given. The convenient access to all the 
rooms ; their arrangement in connection with each other and 
Fig. 74. 



* E. Graef, Architect, 56 "Wall Street, New York. 


Villas. 


107 



with the halls; and especially the location of the kitchen m 
reference to the dining-room, butler’s pantry, laundry, back 
hall, etc., show a nice appreciation of the wants of ^family o 
some wealth and cultivation as well as of the 
principles of economy in household labor. 

The spacious front hall, and the back hall 
with the separate stairs for the domestics, 
add to the characteristic features of the in- 
terior. 

The second and attic floors furnish ample 
bedroom accommodations, etc., for a large 
family. They require no explanation. 

In its external form the house is well pro- 
portioned, and presents a pleasing appear- 
ance, its most striking feature being its fine 
veranda. 

A design similar to this has been executed ____ 

at Elizabeth, New Jersey, at a cost of about attic Plan. 



108 


The House. 


$3,450, the whole being finished in first-class style. It may bo 
built in a plainer way for from $400 to $500 less. 

The scale in this design is reduced to thirty-two feet to the 
inch. 

III.— A. BRICK YILLA. 

This may safely be pronounced a model design. Its great 
merits will be conceded by every one who will take the pains 
to examine it closely. 


Fig. 78. 



Side Elevation.* 


On the first floor two opposite main entrances, with lobbies, 
give access to a fine vestibule in connection with the main 
stair-hall. This hall and vestibule are so placed as to afford 
direct access to a parlor, dining-room, sitting-room, and kitch- 
en ; and there being a fire-place in the vestibule, it will be 
seen at a glance how parlor, dining-room, and sitting-room 
may be used together whenever occasion may require. The 
dining-room and kitchen communicate through a butler’s pan- 
try. The library may, if desirable, have an outside entrance 
from the veranda in front of the kitchen. 


f F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 


Y ILLAS. 


109 


The arrangement of apartments on the second floor is admi- 
rable. Each bedroom has a separate entrance from the hall, 
and, if desired, all of these in the main house may communi- 
cate with each other. The ceiling of the kitchen wing is 


Fig. 79. Fig- so. 



lower than that of the main house, which accounts for the 
stairs or steps shown in the plan ; but this does not show in 
the first-floor ceiling. The main stairs are carried up to the 
attic, and lighted from above ; besides, there is sufficient light 
for the second-story hall and passage, from a window at the 
end of the latter. 

In the first design (fig. 81) the walls and all the dressings, 
except the window sills, are of faced-brick painted, with white 
mortar or dark stone putty. The roofs are of tin ornamented 
with tin rolls. There are inside shutters to all the windows in 
the main house. 

The ceilings of the main house are 12| feet high for the first 


110 


The House, 



story, and 10b feet for the second story. Those of kitchen 
wing are 9| feet and 9 feet respectively. Executed in a liberal 



Front Elevation — 2To. 2. 


Villas. Ill 

style of inside finish, the cost will not exceed $9,000, including 
furnace, gas-pipes, plumbing work, and marble mantles. 

Fig. 82 represents a front elevation of the same house with 
the parlor and vestibule omitted. A slight alteration in the 
design will admit of these being afterward added, bringing the 
house into the form represented in the previous design. As 
here shown, it makes a convenient but smaller house. 

This design is intended to be executed in good hard brick, 
cemented on the surface, laid out in courses and painted. Al- 
though some architects vehemently protest against this so-called 
mastic wall, it is to be recommended for suburban houses of 
moderate pretensions, if the work be performed the right way.* 

The cost of this house will not exceed $6,900, all included. 

IV.— A GOTHIC YILLA.t 

This house is entered through a low porch, of which the 
principal feature is three pointed arches supported on four oc- 
tangular columns. This porch leads to a hall, 9.6x13.6, and 
from which doors open into 
— 1st, a library on the right, 

16X16, which is converted 
from a square into an octagon 
by cutting off the corners in 
the manner shown, thereby 
obtaining four closets for 
books; 2d, a parlor on the 
left, 16.6 X 18, having a 
bold, projecting window in 
front ; 3d, a dining-room be- 
hind the library, 17 X 17.3, 
lighted by a bay window, 
semi-octangular on the plan, 
and furnished with a small 


Fig. 83. 



* We quote Mr. GraePs description. Our own opinion of outside plastering, 
etc., has been expressed in Chapter II. 
t J. Crumlv, from a sketch by the author. 


112 


The H OUSE. 


closet, for plate, taken off the kitchen ; and, 4th, a staircase, 
terminating in a back entrance which opens upon a veranda. 
Two other doors lead from the staircase ; one to a living-room 
on the left, 15X17, and the other to a kitchen on the right, 
12.9X15, having a pantry, between which and the dining- 
room closet a very convenient recess is obtained, opposite one 
of the windows, for the table ; a small store-room is provided 
behind, and is entered from the kitchen. 

The following accommodation is obtained upon the chamber 
story, viz., a closet at the top of the landing, which may be used 
as a linen press ; a bedroom, 15 X 15, over the living-room, 
Fi g- 84. w ith a closet ; a bath-room, a 

bedroom 12.3 X 14, and a 
closet, attached, over the din- 
ing-room ; a nursery, 16 X 
16, over the library ; a bou- 
doir, 9.6 X 13.6, over the 
hall, which leads to a balcony 
over the porch ; and two bed- 
rooms over the parlor, each 
of which is furnished with a 
closet. 

The stairs leading to the 
Srcond Floor Plan. tower are situated immedi- 

ately behind the nursery, and an additional closet may be 
formed under the stairs, if thought necessary. The nursery 
may be formed into an octangular shape, if preferred, and four 
closets obtained, as in the library. 

There are fire-places provided to the nursery and to the bed- 
room over the dining-room ; there may also be fire-places 
obtained for two of the remaining bedrooms, namely, that over 
the living-room and the adjoining one over the parlor ; these, 
in the present arrangement, it is proposed to heat by means of 
flues, and for this purpose the flues from below arc gathered 
into one shaft between the closets. 

The style is the English rural Gothic of the fifteenth century. 






114 


The House. 


The quoins, window-dressings, porch, coping to side walls and 
gables, shields, mullions to windows, covers to projecting win- 
dows, embrasures and supporting brackets to tower, should be 
of roughly chiseled stone, and the remainder of the external 
work of rough stone, hammer dressed, but not laid in courses. 
The outer walls should be about twenty inches thick; the 
inner walls may be of brick, eight inches thick. 

It may perhaps not be unnecessary to say that it is useless to 
attempt this style of building in wood ; the quaintly antique and 
massive character of the architecture can not be obtained other- 
wise than in stone, and any attempt to produce it in timber 
will only result in a caricature, and be so much time and money 
thrown away. It may also be added, that this style will not 
admit of external shutters of any kind ; whatever may be 
needed in this way must therefore be fixed inside. 

y.— A PICTURESQUE VILLA. 

We insert, as we have before had occasion to remark, some 
very queer houses, and some which by no means commend 
themselves to our individual taste and judgment, because we 
make this book for all sorts of people — the queer ones with the 
rest — and must tolerate all tastes and opinions while freely ex- 
pressing our own. So we give this villa, which does not please 
us, with the hope that it will please somebody else. It was 
designed by Mr. Bradbury, of this city. The following is his 
description : 

“ This building is supposed to have grown gradually from a 
log cabin to its present comfortable proportions. The propri- 
etor, we will suppose, goes into the Western wilds and selects 
a beautiful site, and (having, of course, consulted a member of 
that profession which demands as much study as ‘law 1 or 
‘ medicine 1 ) builds his (12x20 feet) cabin, which, for decency’s 
sake, we will suppose to contain two apartments, a ‘ parlor- 
kitchen 1 (K. — 10X10) and a bedroom (W. — 10X8), afterward 
used as a kitchen and wash-room. In the course of a few years 
he adds the little bedroom (Pu. — 7X6) and staircase (3. — 7X12), 


Fig. 86.— A Picturesque Villa— Perspective View 



116 


The House. 


afterward used as a pantry and back staircase. The girls now 
have a snug room to themselves, while the boys find a more 


Fig. 87. 


commodious dormitory in the loft. 
The house now presents the exterior 
of fig. 87. In the course of a dozen 
years the country around becomes 
settled. There is a brick-kiln and 
» saw-mill near by. Railroads have 
cheapened other building materials, 
and increased the profitableness of 
his crops. His family has been increased by 

‘ Troops of tow-heads, bobbing in the corn.’ 



They and the progress of civilization call for an enlargement of 
his habitation, which he builds according to the original plan 
(fig. 88), the old house now serving as a pantry (Pn.), kitcheu 
Fig. 88. 



Perspective View. 


(K.), washroom (W.), and back staircase. His house is now 
comprised in the entrance hall (L. H. — 12x12), square draw- 
ing-room (H. — 18X18), circular staircase (0. S. — 12X12), the 
dining-room (Dn. — 12X18), into which the winter bedroom 
(R. — 12X12) opens, by folding doors, so that they can be made 
one at any time (and make one long dining-room when the 
house is further enlarged). He may throw out a bay window 


Fli/TURESQCE Vi LI A — PLAN 



118 


The Ho USE. 


here or a piazza there, or even the large drawing-room 
(D. R. — 60X25), large enough to hold half the village; hut 
the house with these additions satisfies him for years. 

“ His sons get into successful business in the neighboring 
city; his daughters are well married and have ‘been abroad, 1 
and they all insist upon adding the coach porch (C.), the 
cabinet (O., octagonal — 18X24), the family drawing-room 
(P. — 18X80), the library (L., circular, 80 feet across), the pic 
ture gallery (P. G., lighted from the roof — 80 X 60, or more), 
and the aviary, grapery, or winter garden (W. G.), and upon 
making the square drawing-room (H.) a grand entrance hall 
open to roof, with galleries leading to the various chambers, 
provision for which has been made in framing the floors. 

“ The house or villa now consists of the grand entrance hall 
(H.), with its vestibules and coach porch ; the large drawing- 
room (D. R.), with its accessory boudoir (B.), piazzas, bays, 
and balconies ; the dining-room (Dn. R.), with its closets, pan- 
try, kitchen, etc. ; the small drawing-room (P.), the library 
(L.), the picture gallery (P. G.), the winter garden (W. G.), and 
the cabinet (O.). The upper stories are conveniently divided 
into chambers, dressing-rooms, bath-rooms, corridors, etc.” 

VI.— A SOUTHERN VILLA* 

This house consists of a large center and two wings, connected 
by two covered arcades of one story each. It is entered under 
a veranda 12 feet wide, which extends the whole length of the 
front, and is also continued around each side of the projecting 
portion of the center. The entrance door leads to an elliptical 
vestibule, 10X17, having four niches for statuettes, vases, 
etc. The vestibule opens on the right into a parlor, 17X21, 
and on the left into a drawing-room of a like size. Each of 
these rooms is lighted by two windows, of which those at the 
ends of the rooms are projecting. The vestibule at its farther 
end leads into a hall 8 feet wide, which extends across the whole 


* J. CrumJy, from a sketch by the author. 




120 


The House. 


central portion of the building, and being continued outside of 
the center at each end so far as to embrace the veranda, ter- 
minates in an open arcade which leads to the wings. The 
center and wings at the rear of the building are also connected 
by two open arcades in the manner shown. Passing across 
the hall, we find the principal stairs, consisting of three flights 
— a central flight leading to the first landing, and two return 
flights, one on each side of the central, each of which return 
or side flights lands upon the chamber floor. The staircase is 
14.6X17, and the entrance to it may be richly ornamented by 
means of two pilasters or columns supporting an arch above. 
Passing on toward the rear of the building under the first 
Fig. 91. 



landing of the stairs, we find two closets to the right, and under 
the first landing a door leading to a gentleman’s dressing-room, 
10X12.6, with closet attached; and at the opposite side of 
the landing we find a door opening upon a lobby which leads 
to one of the arcades at the rear of the building, before noticed. 
Returning to the hall, and proceeding along it to the right 
of the principal entrance, we find a dining-room, 16X28, 
lighted by a large window at one end ; it is octangular in 
form, and by making it of this shape, four closets are obtained 
at the angles, as shown. This room has three doors, one 
opening upon one of the arcades at the rear, another opening 


Y ILL AS. 


121 



to a passage which communicates with the waiter’s room, and 
the third opening to the hall. The waiter’s room is 7.6x9, 
and communicates with — a small closet; a pantry, 6x13.6; 
and a store-room, 8.6X13.6; the store-room has also a door 
into the front arcade. Continuing our progress along the ar- 
cade, we find, immediately after passing the store-room, a lobby 

which leads to a gentleman’s bath-room, and also. conma^tfiT- , T 
cates with a staircase in the right wing of the building. .vTfyo^ 
doors open at the bottom of this staircase — one po a \{fi 
room, 16X18.6, at the rear of the wing, having closfet under v 
the stairs before alluded to, and with a door o jf 
of the rear arcades ; the other door at the bot^m of thd\stiprs 
leads to a smoking-room, 11.6x16, which 
communicating with the arcade in front. I^wo closets 
attached to the smoking-room, with a door ' 
upon a platform occupying the space between 
extending to the front of the wing, and covered so as to form 
an open recessed space from the front wall of the wing, which 
admits of smoking in the open air. 

Proceeding again along the hall, but to the left of the prin- 
cipal entrance, we come to a boudoir, 13.6X8.6, elliptical on 
plan, with four niches as in the vestibule, and for similar pur- 
poses; the boudoir opens into a lady’s dressing-room, 8X13.6, 
which last is also entered from the hall. Succeeding this is a 
nursery, 13.6X16, communicating with a bedroom, 13.6x14, 
which is also entered from the arcade. The arcade terminates 
at the remaining or left wing of the building, with which it 
communicates by a door which leads into a large lobby, con- 
taining the stairs to the chamber floor, and two closets, between 
which is a side entrance door. This lobby leads to an octan- 
gular library, 16X16, which communicates with a cabinet, 
12X16, from which a door opens to the left arcade at the rear 
of the building. 

The second or chamber story is divided as follows : two 
triangular spaces are taken off the second landing of the prin- 
cipal stairs, in such a manner as to preserve the symmetry ; 

6 


122 


The House. 


the landing is thus converted into a semi-octagon, and this 
process, in conjunction with that of narrowing the hall to five 
feet, enables us to obtain a number of closets, which are appro- 
priated as shown on the plan. The entrance from this landing 
to the hall may be ornamented in a manner somewhat similar 
to the lower entrance before described. 

A passage commencing- at the landing on the dining-room 
side, leads to two bedrooms over the dining-room, that next 
the passage being 13.6X15, and the other 15X16 ; these may 
be made of equal size, if preferred ; each has a closet attached. 
The passage turns at right angles, leads to a linen press, and 
terminates at a lady’s bath-room. Bedrooms are also- obtained 
over the parlor and drawing-room, each 16X17.6, and over the 


Fig. 92. 


i BEDROOM 

jpX-I 

ROOF 

^5llQlA xa iJl| BEDROOM 

Roor 

BEDROOM 

is.exie.o 

er 







|| 1 sexso 


[I PASSAGE J} 



13 . 0X75.0 



1 BEDROOM f yi .-1 BE'DROQM 

|/sf.<rX77.<f 1 ‘ -lM.exn.6 






BALCONY 





Second Floor Plan. 


boudoir, 18x18.6. All these bedrooms have closejts attached, 
leaving two closets opening from the passage, unattached to any 
bedroom, and which may be applied to whatever purpose may 
be thought advisable. A circular room, 17 feet diameter, is 
located over the vestibule ; this room, with a circular table in 
the center, covered with rare shells, bijouterie, etc., and with 
statuettes or vases in the niches, may be made to assume a 
very rich and ornamental character. 

The windows to the parlor and drawing-room, to the bed- 
rooms over them, and to the circular room, should be French 


Villas. 123 

casements opening to the floor, so as to allow access to the 
veranda and balcony. 

Two bedrooms are also obtained over the billiard and smok- 
ing rooms; the former 15.6X15, and the latter 13X15, with 
closets to each ; and two more bedrooms, with attached closets, 
and an additional large closet, are provided over the library 
and cabinet; that over the library being 12x13.6, and that 
over the cabinet 12X13. The stairs to the tower are situated 
along the external wall of the building, over the two closets 
before mentioned, as shown on the plan. 

Access to the flat on the roof may be obtained by a step- 
ladder, which may be removed when not in use ; or, what is 
still better, a flight of stairs may be constructed in the space 
occupied by the two closets adjacent to the bedroom over the 
boudoir, and inclosed by a door so arranged as not to interfere 
with the symmetrical appearance of the hall. Should this 
latter method be adopted, two or three bedrooms may be 
formed in the roof, and lighted by skylights from the flat. 

The style is Italian. The quoins, the window and door 
dressings, the chimney tops, and the arcades are proposed to 
be of stone; the remainder of the external walls of good, 
square, well-burned brick. The quoins and window dressings 
to the first story are to be of the kind of work commonly 
known as rock-work ; that is to say, the stones are to be first 
hammer-dressed, then truly bedded and jointed, and lastly a 
margin draft chiseled off the outer edges of the external sur- 
faces ; this draft should be about two inches wide, leaving the 
remainder of the external faces rough from the hammer. It is 
also proposed to execute part of the mason work of the arcades 
and of the wings in this style ; but the portions of the eleva- 
tion in which it is proposed to introduce this description of 
stone-cutting are sufficiently indicated on the engraving. The 
quoins and dressings to the second story are to project from 
the face of the brick-work, and to have the angles chamfered 
off. A good idea of the remaining features of the elevation 
will, it is presumed, be obtained from the engraving. 



Fig 93 .— An Octagon Villa— Perspective View. 


V ILLAS. 


125 


VII. — AN OCTAGON VILLA. 

The main body of this house is a regular octagon on the plan, 
each side being 20 feet, giving the whole width of the main 
house 48 feet ; with 12 feet additional for the wings. Rect- 
angular apartments are built against four of the walls, form- 
ing four projections, each of which is 18.8x10, clear dimen- 
sions. The principal building — that is, the octagon — is two 
stories high, and the wings one story. The whole structure. 


Fig. 91. 



First Floor Plan. 


for the purpose of giving effect to the elevation, is raised about 
six feet above the adjoining ground. 

A flight of steps in front lands upon a veranda six feet wide 
from which we enter through the front door to a vestibule, 
7x7, and from which, passing through a glass door, we enter 
the hall, seven feet wide, which is continued through the 
building, having the rear entrance door at its farther extremity. 
Immediately inside of the glass door we find a door on each 
side of the hall ; that to the right opens into a small, irregularly- 


126 


The House. 


shaped reception-room, of which the length inside, measuring 
across the fire-place, is 13.6; and parallel to the hall, 12.6. 
This room leads into an elliptical boudoir, 10X18.8, with 
niches in the walls. The door on the opposite side of the hall 
leads to a lobby, from which we enter into a cloak-closet 5x6; 
and going forward through the opposite door, we find ourselves 
in the conservatory. This room is also irregular in form, but 
notwithstanding its irregularity, a slight glance will show that 
it is symmetrical. The wall of the main building, which cuts 
it into two unequal portions, is perforated so as to allow of 
the introduction of Gothic columns and arches; and it is pro- 
posed not only to have the arches open, but also the spandrels 
between, and the whole of the space above to the ceiling; 
these perforations will, of course, be molded, and cusps, foils, 
and other Gothic ornaments introduced ; creeping plants may 
be trained around the columns and through the openings, and 
if the ornamentation be of that light and graceful character of 
which the Gothic supplies such a variety, a very pleasing and 
picturesque effect may be produced. Proceeding along the 
hall, we find two doors opening into the drawing-room on the 
left, and also two doors opening into the dining-room on the 
right ; each of these rooms is 19x19.3 ; the former opens also 
into the conservatory ; the latter has a small closet attached 
for plate. Proceeding farther along the hall, we find the stairs 
to the right, and enter the breakfast-room from a passage formed 
under the upper landing ; a door from this passage opens to the 
basement stairs, leading to the kitchen and other offices below. 
The breakfast-room is 10X16.3, and is fitted up with two closets; 
it has also a fire-place projecting outward, which may be made 
an ornamental feature in the elevation. On the other side of 
the hall we find a passage leading to a bedroom, 10X18.8, 
having also a projecting fire-place and a small closet. A door 
opens from this passage into a store-room. At the rear of the 
building another veranda is found, with a flight of steps as at 
the front. 

Ascending the stairs, we enter a bedroom on the landing, 


V ILLAS. 


m 


13x10.3, and passing forward we find a bath to the right, 
7 x7, and still farther we find two bedroom doors, one of which 
leads to an irregular-shaped room, being over the store-room 
and passage on the principal floor; the other, over the draw- 
ing-room, is the same size as that already described, 13x19.3 ; 
each of these bedrooms is provided with a closet. If a greater 
number of rooms be desired, these principal bedrooms can be 
divided in the manner shown by the dotted lines. It is sup- 
posed the servants’ bedrooms will be in the basement. Oppo- 
site the bath-room door we find a door leading to an octangu- 
lar picture gallery, 19.3X19.3, from which, on the opposite 


Fig. 95. 



side, a door opens into a symmetrical room in the form of an 
irregular hexagon, The extreme length of this room is 31.6 by 
12.9 broad. These two rooms may be made to form, not only 
the most attractive feature of the house, but if skillfully treated 
will make a combination the like of which is rarely met with 
in a house of such limited extent as this. The octagon room 
may have a groined paneled ceiling, the ribs springing from 
Gothic columns attached to the walls at the angles of the room, 
and terminating against the angles of an octangular lantern- 


128 


The House. 


light surrounded by a richly ornamented cornice; the lantern 
to be filled in with stained glass, and to project a considerable 
height above the roof. The principal point of attraction in the 
adjoining room will be the noble Gothic window, which, if 
managed as a Gothic window may be managed, with mul- 
lion's, cusps, foils, stained glass, and all the other etceteras, will, 
in conjunction with the octagon room, when the door is thrown 
open, have a magnificent effect. 

Two balconies are provided in front : one over the conserv- 
atory, the other over the boudoir; to be entered from the 
front room. 

The building has eight gables; it also has eight ridges and 
eight valleys, meeting at the lantern in the center. The gables 
are ornamented with verge boards of different patterns, so 
that each front presents a different appearance ; and the chim- 
neys are so contrived that the stacks will stand one half on 
each side of a ridge. 

We give no estimate of the expense of this house, as it is one 
on which a great amount of ornamental work can be put to ad- 
vantage, or it can be built quite plain. The style in which it 
is finished will, to a great degree, govern the expense. Plainly 
finished, it can be erected for $5,000; and $25,000 can be spent 
on it with ease, if the builder desires to make it what it can be 
made, one of the most unique and tasteful houses ever erected. 


Barns, Etc. 


129 


BARNS, 


VIII. 

AND OTHER OUT-BUIL 


There is the barn — and, as of yore, 

I can smell the hay from the open door, 

And see the busy swallows throng, 

And hear the peewee's mournful song. 

Oh, ye who dally cross the sill, 

Step lightly, for I love it still ; 

And when you crowd the old barn eaves, 

Then think what countless harvest sheaves 
Have passed within that scented door, 

To gladden eyes that are no more. — T. B. Bead.. 

I.— PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 






LL that we need say in introduction to 
, our designs may be embraced in a single 
paragraph. Let your out-buildings cor- 
respond in character with your house, 
f and be as simple in plan and as unpre- 
p tending in style as adaptation to their 
uses and an agreeable and appropriate 
external appearance will permit. A stable should pass for a 
stable, and not be so elaborate as to be mistaken for a farm- 
cottage. To build a poultry-house in the form of a palace 
is equally absurd. Let each seem to be just what it is, aud 
present an example of complete fitness for the purpose of its 
erection. 

Our designs, in general, require very little explanation, and 
speak for themselves. W e present them in the hope that, where 
they may not be found exactly adapted to particular cases, they 
may, at least, furnish useful hints toward the thing required. 
Some of them have stood the test of actual construction and 
use, and have proved well adapted to their purposes. 

6 * 


130 


The House. 


II.— LEWIS F. ALLEN’S BABN. 

TTe are indebted to the “ Anneal Register of Rural Affairs’ 
for the accompanying design. It represents one of the best 
barns, probably, ever erected in this country, and, although 
much larger than will generally be required, furnishes a model 
in most respects for a structure of any desired size. We copy 
from the “ Register” so much of the description as will serve 
onr purpose : 

“The body of the main barn is 100 feet long by 50 feet 
wide, the posts 18 feet high above the sill, making 9 bents. The 
beams are 14 feet above the sills, which is the height of the 
inner posts. The position of the floor and bays is readily un- 
derstood from the plan. The floor, for a grain barn, is 14 feet 
wide, but may be contracted to 12 feet for one exclusively for 
hay. The area in front of the bays is occupied with a station- 
ary horse-power and with machinery for various farm opera- 
tions, such as threshing, shelling corn, cutting straw, crushing 
grain, etc., all of which is driven by bands from drums on the 
horizontal shaft overhead, which runs across the floor from the 
horse-power on the other side ; this shaft being driven by a 
cog-wheel on the perpendicular shaft round which the horses 
travel. 

“ A passage four feet wide extends between the bays and the 
stables, which occupy the two wings. Th is extends up to the top 
of the bays, down which the hay is thrown for feeding, which 
renders this work as easy and convenient as possible. 

<{ The floor of the main barn is three feet higher than that 
of the stables. This will allow a cellar under it, if desired — or 
a deeper extension of the bays — and it allows storage lofts over 
the cattle, with sufficient slope of roof. A short flight of 
steps at the ends of each passage admits easy access from the 
level of the barn floor. 

“ The line of mangers is two feet wide. A manure window 
is placed at every 12 feet. The stalls are double; that is, 
for two animals each, which are held to their places by a rope 
and chain, attached to a staple and ring at each corner of the 


131 


Barns, Etc. 


stall. This mode is preferred to securing by stanchions. A 
pole or scantling, placed over their heads, prevents them from 
climbing so as to get their feet into the mangers, which they 
are otherwise very apt to do. 

“ The sheds, which extend on the three sides of the barn, 



and touch it at the rear end, are on a level with the stables. 
An inclined plane, from the main floor through the middle of 
the back shed, forms a rear egress for wagons and carts, de- 
scending three feet from the floor. The two rooms, one on 
each side of this rear passage, 16 by 34 feet, may be used for 


132 


The House. 


housing sick animals, cows about to calve, or any other pur- 
pose required. The stables at the front ends of the sheds are 
convenient for teams of horses or oxen, or they may be fitted 
for wagon-houses, tool-houses, or other purposes. The rooms, 
16 feet square at the inner corners of the sheds, may be used 
for weak ewes, lambs, or for a bull-stable. 

“ Racks or mangers may be fitted up in the open sheds for 
feeding sheep or young cattle, and yards may be built adjoin- 
ing, on the rear, six or eight in number, into which they may 
run and be kept separate. Barred partitions may separate the 
different flocks. Bars may also inclose the opening in front, 
or they may, if required, be boarded up tight. Step-ladders are 
placed at convenient intervals, for ascending the shed lofts. 

“ A granary over the machine-room is entered by a flight of 
stairs. Poles extending from bay to bay, over the floor, will 
admit the storage of much additional hay or grain. As straw 
can not be well kept when exposed to the weather, and is at 
the same time bpcoming more valuable as its uses are better 
understood, we would suggest that the space on these cross 
poles be reserved for its deposit from the elevator from thresh- 
ing grain, or until space is made for it in one of the bays. 

“ A one-sided roof is given to the sheds (instead of a double- 
sided), to throw all the water on the outside, in order to keep 
the interior of the yards dry. Eave-troughs take the water 
from the roofs to cisterns. The cisterns, if connected by an 
underground pipe, may be all drawn from by a single pump if 
necessary.” • 

III.— ME. CHAMBERLAIN’S OCTAGON BARN. 

The accompanying cut represents the ground plan of an oc- 
tagon barn erected by Mr. Calvin Chamberlain, of Foxcroft, 
Maine, and described in the u Reports of the Board of Agri- 
culture” of that State. 

The plan is on a scale of 15 feet to the inch, which shows 
the structure to be a trifle over 36 feet in diameter. 

“ There is a cellar under the whole, eight feet deep, and a 


133 


Bakns, Etc. 

cart- wajUeading out on a level. The floor is ten feet in the clear ; 
doors same width and height ; height below scaffold, seven 
and a half feet clear; entire height of walls, 19 feet. A door 
Fir. 97 . 



is shown opening north to the pasture, four feet wide and seven 
and a half feet high ; one south, same s'ze, opening to yard ; one 
on southwest side communicates with other buildings. Stairs 
lead to cellar and hay-loft. Passage-way behind cattle stalls 
five feet wide, admitting wheelbarrow to pass at any time to any 
manure scuttle. Gates hanging to outer wall close passages to 
stalls, so that any animal may occupy its place untied. Side- 
lights at large doors, and a large window on opposite side, one 
sash of which slides horizontally, light the stable. Four large 
windows, set quite up to the plates, light the hay-loft. These 
let down at top, and are left down half the year ; the two-feet 
projection of the roof protects them from all storms. Cellar is 
lighted by four double windows and the side-light at head of 
stairs. The open space, 13 feet long, at end of floor, admits 


134 


The House. 


the horse, so that the hay-cart is brought to the center of the 
barn for unloading. A scatfold 13 feet long is put over the 
floor, and 12 feet above it.” 

This small barn, Mr. Chamberlain says, will store 20 tons of 
hay. 

IY.— ME. BECKWITH’S OCTAGON BARN. 

The annexed cut represents the basement plan of the barn 
erected by E. W. Beckwith, Principal of the Boys’ Boarding 
School, at Cromwell, Middlesex County, Connecticut, in Sep- 
tember, 1858. 

The beauty and convenience of the arrangement for stalls 
and feeding can be seen at a glance. The octagon form is 
adopted because it is best adapted to inclose the desired plan. 

This building, 30| feet short diameter, 12i feet each side, or 
100 feet inside circumference, and 13 feet each outside, or 104 


Fig. 93. 



feet circumference when the wall is 14 inches thick, as in the 
present case, incloses an area of 750 feet. 

The wall is grouted stone work, laid up between planks cut 
the right length for each inside and outside of angle, held to 


Bakns, Etc. 


135 


the proper distance apart by cast-iron clamps pierced with 
holes at each end to receive the iron dowels driven into each 
edge of the planks. These planks, when in an upright position 
on the wall, should be plumbed and staylathed preparatory to 
laying the stone. The basement floor is cemented, the horses 
standing on a movable slat-work, which keeps the bedding 
dry. The height of this story should be eight feet ; the clear 
space from the stalls to the wall, four feet wide ; the stalls six 
feet long, including manger-box, which leaves a circle in the 
center about ten feet diameter as the base of a cone, over 
which all the feed is thrown down to the animals. Under the 
cone is a fine place for a water-tank or pump. 

The remaining space, when not wanted for stalls, furnishes 
room for cleaning oft' horses, for storing roots, for an ice-house, 
or any other purpose for which it may be wanted. 

The feeding place is a hole about three feet square over the 
apex of the cone, which can be covered with a scuttle. 

The walls are 26 feet high from the foundation, giving 16 
feet altitude above the barn floor, which can be left clear and 
open to the roof, thus allowing the hay to be deposited in any 
direction and to any required proportion of the space ; a gang- 
way to the feed-hole being left, or cut afterward, at option. 
There is one door, 9 by 10 feet, to this floor, for carriages, etc., 
the hay being taken in at a window on the up-hill side. Of 
course a place would be partitioned off if carriages are to be 
housed in the barn. 

The cost of this stone barn, covered with mastic roofing at 
five cents a foot, will be about $325. 

The walls cost $230, but closer personal attention would 
have made them cheaper. A wood barn on the same base- 
ment would have cost at least $40 more, and not be as good 
for many reasons. 

There is nothing to burn by fire but one floor, and the roof 
and the walls would be left for another. 

The utility of narrow stalls, in this case five feet wide at the 
broad end and two feet at the manger, may be questioned by 

O 


136 


The House. 


some ; but you have that matter entirely according to fancy, 
the peculiar feature of this plan being that they all point to the 
center. It is peculiarly adapted to those gentlemen who wish 
to keep horses and cows, and be able to feed them without too 
much labor or time and exposure to dirt. 

You can have a hired man or not, as you choose, which is 
sometimes desirable. This plan, if not adopted by others, may 
serve a good purpose as a suggested 

V.-A CIRCULAR BARN. 

The barn, plans of which are herewith presented, was built 
by the Shakers of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and is cer 
tainly worthy of the attention of farmers contemplating the 


Fig. 99. 



A., doors ;* B., stairs; D., calf-pens ; E , alleys ; F., stalls; G., granary ; IT., 
double doors ; T., windows. 

erection of barns on a large scale. It is- 100 feet diameter, built 
of stone — a material that is very abundant in that part of Mas- 
sachusetts — two stories high, the first one being only seven and 


* .An error in the plans represents the doors as windows, and vice versa. 


137 


Barns, Etc. 

a half feet between floors, and contains stalls for seventy head 
of cattle, and two calf-stables. These stalls are situated in a 
circle next the outer wall, with the heads of the animals point- 

Fig. 100. 



ing inward, looking into an alley in which the feeder passes 
around in front of and looking into the face of every animal. 
The circle forming the stable and alley-way is 14 feet wide, 
inside of which is the great bay. Over the stable and alley is 
the threshing-floor, which is 14 feet wide and about 300 feet 
long on the outer side, into which a dozen loads of hay may be 
hauled, and all be unloaded at the same time into the bay in 
the center. 

There should be a large chimney formed of timbers open in 
the center of such a mass of hay, connecting with air-tubes 
under the stable floor, extending out to the outside of the 
building, and with a large ventilator in the peak of the roof. 
We should also recommend an extension of the eaves beyond 
the outer wall, by means of brackets, so as to form a shed 
over the doors, and the manure thrown out of the stables and 
piled against the wall. 


138 


The House. 


YL— A SIDE-HILL BARN. 

"We copy the accompanying plans and the description from 
the American Agriculturist for September, 1858, where a per- 
spective view of the barn is also given. 

Entering the barn at either end, as shown in the main floor 
plan, there is a floor, either 12 or 14 feet wide, as may be 
most convenient, which passes through the entire length. On 


Fig. 101. 



one side is a large bay for hay or grain in the sheaf. Oppo- 
site, in part, is another hay. Next to that a passage of five feet 
wide, to carry out straw or hay to throw down below into the 
yard. Next to the passage is a granary, and adjoining it a 
tool-house, or area for threshing machines, straw-cutters, etc., 
with a partition off from the floor, or not, at pleasure. Nine 
feet above the floor, on each side, should be a line of girts. 


139 


Barns, Etc. 

connecting the inner posts, on which may be thrown loose 
poles to hold a temporary scaffold for the storage of hay, or 
grain in the sheaf, when required. By such arrangement the 
barn can be filled to the peak or ridge-pole, and the ventilator 
above will carry out all the heated air and moisture given off 
from the forage stored within. Slatted windows, or side ven- 
tilators, may be put in the side next to the yard, if required. 
The roof has a “third” pitch, or one foot rise to two feet in 
width, which lasts longer and gives more storage than a flat- 
ter one. 

The frame of the barn above is 60 by 50 feet, with posts set 
upon stones below, to support the overshot sill, as shown in 


Fig. 102. 



the ground plan. Underneath are four lines of stalls, two on 
each side of the center passage-way, heading each other, with 
a four-foot feeding alley between them, receiving the forage 
from above, from which it is thrown into the mangers, two 
and a half feet wide, to which the cattle are tied or chained. 
The stalls are double, allowing two animals, if neat stock, in 
each. They are tied at the sides next the partitions, to prevent 


140 


The House. 


injury to each other. On the hill-side are three windows in 
the upper part of the wall, to admit light and ventilation, 
either glazed or grated, as may be necessary. 

The advantages of a side-hill barn are, the warmth of its 
stables in winter and their coolness in summer ; storage for 
roots, if required ; much additional room under the same roof, 
but not, we think, at diminished expense; and greater com- 
pactness of storage than in one on the common plan. 

But it is essential to the comfort and convenience of the 
side-hill barn that it be well embanked with earth, so that the 
falling water may freely pass away from the Avails ; and that 
the stables and yards be well drained. Without these pre- 
cautions, such barns are little better than nuisances, the rains 
and melting snows flooding everything beneath the building, 
and in the yards and sheds below. 

There should be a flight of stairs (not represented in the 
plan) from the underground floor to that above. 


Shelter Cheaper than Fodder. — An improvement on our 
present practice of shelter, and care of our animals, would be an 
equivalent to an actual shortening of winter. It can hardly be 
questioned that exposure of cattle to extreme cold injures their 
health, and thus interferes with the owner’s profit. Chemical 
physiology teaches us that warmth is equi valent to a certain 
portion of food, and that an animal exposed to more cold will 
eat more, and one better housed and warmer kept will eat less. 
To keep an animal comfortable, therefore, is to save food ; and 
this alone is a sufficient inducement to provide that comfort to 
the full extent .* — Maine Agricultural Report. 


Every animal should have its own particular stall in the 

stable, and should be allowed in no other. 


* It is asserted, on good authority, that exposed animals will consume a 
third more food, and come out in the spring in worse condition. 


Barns, Etc. 


141 


VII. — STABLES.* 

The subject of stables — their construction, arrangement of 
accommodations, etc. — is one to which a volume might profit- 
ably be devoted ; but our present object is merely to furnish a 


Fig. 103. 


Fig. 104. 


r n: STALL — 

mm 


i: STALL 

u ] 

R “ I 

4l... 

Is J 


CARRIAGE RM. 
15/4 X 21 


17 


'□□I 

HORSE 



Plan. Plan. 

few designs adapted to execution in connection with country 
houses and villas, and to show how they may be planned j 


Fig. 105. 


1 1 

i '""in 

HORSE 

STALLS 



* F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 


142 


The House. 


in fig. 103, for one horse and carriage; in fig. 104, for one 
horse and two vehicles ; or, as in fig. 105, with which we give 
an elevation (fig. 106), for two horses and three vehicles. 


Fig. 106. 



Constructed of wood in a proper manner, fig. 103 will cost 
$125 ; fig. 104, $185 ; and fig. 105, $275. Built of brick, they 
will generally cost a little over a third more. 


Elevators in Barns. — In large barns the pitching up of the 
hay into the upper part of the bays is a very laborious process 
and requires considerable time. In such cases an elevator , like 
that of the best threshing machine, to be worked by the t T vo 
horses removed from the loaded wagon of hay, may be profit- 
ably employed, greatly lessening the labor and quickening the 
operation. The same elevator would be used in carrying 
threshed straw from the machine to the bays. The simplest 
and best elevator for this purpose is made of a light, inclined 
board platform, four feet wide, on each side of which a rope or 
endless chain runs, connected by cross-bars, a foot or two apart, 
which slide over the upper surface of this platform, and sweep 
the hay upward as fast as pitched upon it. 


Barns, Etc. 


143 


VIII. — AN OCTAGON POULTRY IIOUSE. 

This design is selected from Bement’s “ Poulterer’s Compan- 
ion.” It has been executed, we believe, near Factoryville, 
Staten Island. It is ten feet in diameter and six feet and a 
half high. The sills are 4 by 4, and the plates 3 by 4 joists, 
halved and nailed at the joints. It is sided with inch and a 
quarter spruce plank, tongued and grooved. No upright tim- 
bers are used. The floor and roofing are of the same kind of 


Fig. 107. 



Perspective View 


plank. To guard against leakage by shrinking, the joints may 
be battened with lath or strips of thin boards. An eight-square 
frame supports the top of the rafters, leaving an opening of 
ten inches in diameter, on which is placed an octagon chimney 
for a ventilator, which makes a very pretty finish. The piers 
should be either cedar, chestnut, or locust, two feet high, and 
set on flat stones. 



144 


The House. 


The letter D designates the door ; W, W, windows ; L, lat* 
ticed window to admit air, with a shutter to exclude it, when 
necessary ; E, entrance for the 
fowls, with a sliding door ; P, 
platform for the fowls to 
alight on when going in ; E, R, 
roosts placed spirally, one end 
attached to a post near the 
center of the room, and the 
other end to the wall ; the 
first, or lowermost one, two 
feet from the floor, and the 
others 18 inches apart, and 
rising gradually to the top, six 
feet from the floor. These 
roosts will accommodate 40 ordinary-sized fowls. F, F, is* a 
hoard floor, on an angle of about 45 degrees, to catch and carry 
down th.e droppings of the fowls. This arrangement renders it 
much more convenient in cleaning out the manure, which 
should be frequently done. 

The space beneath this floor is appropriated to nests, 12 in 
number, 15 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 18 inches high. 
In order to give an appearance of secrecy, which it is well 
known the hen is so partial to, the front is latticed with strips 
of lath. By this arrangement a free circulation of air is ad- 
mitted, which adds much to the comfort of the hens while 
sitting. 

The object of placing this house on piles is to prevent the 
encroachments of rats, mice, skunks, etc., and is a good method, 
as rats are very annoying, especially where they have a good 
harbor under the house, often destroying the eggs and killing 
the young chickens. 


Two Ekkoks. — It is an error to build a house upon a side- 
hill with an “underground kitchen;” but it is a greater error 
to build a barn without such a room upon the down-hill side, 


Fig. 108. 



Barns, Etc. 


145 


and if possible having a southern exposure. In this room all 
the horned cattle should be stabled, having a yard to them- 
selves entirely separate from any other stock. The horse stable 
should always be on the ground floor, with an entrance from a 
separate yard. 

IX. — AN OCTAGON PIGGERY. 

The accompanying design shows the plan of an economically 
constructed and convenient piggery. It may, of course, be 
enlarged to any desired extent without any change of form or 


Fig. 109. 



arrangement. The elevation may be similar to that of the 
poultry-house (fig. 107), and should have sufficient height to 
furnish a good upper room for storing corn, etc., for the swine. 

X.-AN ASHERY AND SMOKE-HOUSE. 

An ashery and smoke-house combined may be economically 
built as represented in our design. The first story, or ash-pit, 
should be built of stone or hard brick, and be provided with 
an iron door. The walls need not be more than from six to 
eight feet in height. The ceiling should be lathed and plastered, 
7 


146 The House. 

The smoke-house story above may be of wood. It is entered 
in the rear on a level with the ground. Four tin tubes, intro- 
duced through the floor, admit the smoke from the ash-room 
below, where the fire is kindled. This arrangement precludes 
all danger from fire, secures the- meat against being overheated 


Fig. no. 



An Ashery and Smoke-House. 


in smoking, and gives a clean and convenient smoke-room. It 
may be ventilated either through the gable or the roof. 

A side-hill situation is by no means essential in this mode of 
construction. Both stories may be above ground, the smoke- 
house door being readied by outside stairs or a step-ladder. 


147 



A Circular Ice-House — Perspective View. 

heat. The second important point is to secure perfect drain * 
age. These conditions attained, the rest is comparatively un- 
important. 

A common and entirely effective mode of constructing an 
ice-house is thus described : 

The frame or sides should be formed of two ranges of up- 


Barns, Etc. 


XI.— AN ICE-IIOUSE. 

The first grand essential in the construction of an ice-house 
is the perfect inclosure of the space to be occupied by the ice 
with walls and floors which shall prove non-conductors of 


Fig. 111. 


148 


The House. 


right joists about six by four inches ; the lower ends to be put 
in the ground without any sill ; the upper to be morticed into 
the timbers which are to support the upper floor. The joists 
in the two ranges should be each opposite another. They 
Fi-. 112. should then be lined or faced with rough 

1 boarding, which need not be very tight. 
These boards should be nailed to those 
edges of the joists nearest each other, so 
%|l|| that one range of joists shall be outside 
the building and the other inside the ice- 
room, as shown in fig. 112. Cut out or 
, leave out a space for a door of suitable 
dimensions on the north or west side, 
higher than the ice will come, and board 
up the inner side of this opening so as to 
V;1P^ form a door-casing on each side. Two 
doors should be attached to this opening 
— one on the inner side and one on the 
jll outward, both opening outward. The 
space between these partitions should be 
filled with charcoal-dust, tan, or saw-dust, 
whichever can be the most readily obtained. 

The bottom of the ice vault should be filled about a foot 
deep with small blocks of wood or round stones; these are 
leveled and covered with wood-shavings, over which a plank 


floor to receive the ice should be laid; some spread straw a 
foot thick over the floor, and lay the ice on that. A floor 
should also be laid on the beams above the vault, on which 
place several inches of tan or saw-dust. The roof should be 
perfectly tight, and it is usually best to give it a considerable 
pitch. The space between the roof and the flooring beneath 
should be ventilated by means of a door or lattice window in 
each gable. The drain can be constructed in accordance with 
the situation, the only things requiring attention being to have 
it carry off all the water settling at the bottom, and not be so 
open as to allow the passage of air into the vault. 


149 


Barns, Etc. 

Fig. 113 represents a section of such an ice-house. We give 
a perspective view of a circular ice-house, which is constructed 
on the same principle. It may advantageously be executed in 


Fig. 113. 



concrete. Ventilation is secured by leaving a small aperture 
In the peak of the roof, protected by a hood or cap, as shown. 

Should an underground house be preferred, the plan of build- 
ing can be the same ; or a less expensive method may be used. 
A side-hill having a northern exposure affords a desirable 
location. In such case one end of the house is usually above 
ground. The boards can be of the cheapest description, and 
the space or air-chamber filled in with straw ; the ground 
forming the support to the whole. No less attention should 
be paid to draining than in the other case ; and when in use, 
the space between the ice and the peak of the roof should be 
filled with straw. 


150 


The House. 


xii.— an APIAEY. 

Fig. 114 represents a design for a rustic apiary or bee-house, 
which strikes us as being far more beautiful and appropriate 
than the elaborately ornamented temple or palace-like struc- 
tures we sometimes see. The mode of its construction is readily 
Fig. 114. 



Perspective View. 

seen. It may, of course, be made of any desirable size on the 
same plan. [For directions in reference to the construction of 
hives, the best site for an apiary, and instructions in bee-keep- 
ing, see “ The Barn-Yard.”*] 


* The Barn-Yard : a Manual of Horse, Cattle, and Sheep Husbandry ; 
or, How to Breed, Rear, and Use all the Common Domestic Animals. Em- 
bracing Descriptions of the various Breeds of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Swine, 
Poultry, etc. ; the “ Points” or Characteristics by which to Judge Animals ; 
Feeding and General Management of Stock ; How to Improve Breeds ; How 
to Cure Sick Animals, etc. With a Chapter on Bees. Handsomely illustrated. 
Geo. E. & F. W. Woodward, 37 Park Row— $1.00. 

IIow many expensive, not to say fatal, errors in the buying, selling, breed- 
ing, and management of farm-stock might be avoided by means of the practi- 
cal information aod plain common-sense advice condensed into this compre- 
hensive and thorough little Hand-b"ok ! 


Barns. Etc. 


151 


XIII. -A PLAY-IIOUSE. 

Build your children a play-house (if some sort. A very rude 
affair will please them, but something similar to the accompa- 


Fig. 115. 



Perspective View. 


nying design will please you too, and be a highly ornamental 
feature in your grounds. The construction is simple, but the 
effect is verv fine. 


Materials for Rustic Structures. — In order to succeed 
In constructing rustic work, the first thing is to procure the 
materials. All such objects as may be exposed to the weather 
should be of the most durable wood, of which red cedar is best. 
For certain purposes, white oak will answer well, but as it is 
essential to have the bark remain on, the wood should be cut 
at a time of year when this will not peel or separate. If cut 
toward the close of summer, the wood will last about twice as 
long as when cut in winter or spring. A horse-load or two 
of boughs or branches of trees, of which a goodly portion may 
be curved and twisted, from one to six inches in diameter, 
will constitute the materials for a good beginning. — J. J. 
Thomas. 


152 


The House 


XIV. — A EUSTIC GAEDEN HOUSE. 

A rustic structure, like the one here represented, when cov- 
ered with vines and climbing shrubs, forms one of the most 
Fig. 116. 



Perspective V iew. 


beautiful and appropriate objects that a lawn or flower garden 
can boast. Furnished with rustic seats, it becomes an attract- 
ive summer resort in which to work or read. 


Church and School-House. 153 


IX. 

THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

On other shores, above their moldering towns, 

In sullen pomp the tall cathedral frowns — 

Pride In Its aisles and paupers at the door, 

Which feeds the beggars which it fleeced of yore. 

Simple and frail, our lowly temples throw 
Their slender shadows on the paths below. — Hdmes. 

In a green lane that from the village street 
Diverges, stands the school-house .— Street 

I.— A TILLAGE CHURCH* 

HE accompanying designs (figs. 
117, 118, 119) represent a coun- 
try church, and, as has been more 
or less the case with all our de- 
signs, are intended to show how 
easy it is, without costly materi- 
als, and without expensive de- 
tails, but with due regard to pro- 
portion, symmetry, and harmony 
of style, to produce a structure 
at once pleasing, chaste, and 
adapted to its purposes. The 
piles of brick work and the 
wooden boxes which so often 
pass for churches among us, but 
are, to say the least, a reproach 
to our cultivated society, bear 
witness, on every hand, to the 
frequency with which the first principles of architecture aro 



* F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 






.Fig. 117. —A. Tillage CnuRcn-rERSPECTivE Tiew. 


Church and School-House. 


155 


sinned against through ignorance. Tt is this ignorance that we 
hope to aid in dissipating, both by precept and example. 


Fig. 118. 


The height of this 
church from the floor to 
the eaves is 17 feet, and 
the whole height of the 
ceiling about 22 feet. It 
is planned for a gallery 
across the front merely. 

It will seat 400 people. 

The same ground plan 
may of course be so ex- 
ecuted as to give consid- 
erably greater accommo- 
dations. By making the 
ceiling higher, for in- 
stance, side galleries may 
be introduced. If re- 
quired, a lecture-room 
and Sunday-schoolroom 
may be added on the 
rear ; but if the loca- 
tion be suitable, these 
accommodations may be secured at less cost in a basement. 

The walls are to be built of brick, the exterior projections 
being faced with front brick, Fi &* 119 - 

costing about $10 per thou- 
sand. The window sills, door 
sills, caps, and steps are to 
be of cut stone. The roof, 
cornices, and cupola are to 
be of wood. The main roof 

is to be covered with slate, Gallery Floor Plan. 

and the tower roof and cupola to be tinned. Finished inside 
in a liberal manner, the cost is estimated at about $9,800 ; or 
finished quite plainly, it can be built for less than $9,000. 



Ground Floor Plan. 




156 


The House. 


II.— A VILLAGE SCHOOL-HOUSE .* 

This design represents a single two-story school-house suit- 
able for a small village or other country place. The first and 
second stories are almost entirely alike in their arrangements. 
Each room will accommodate fifty-two pupils, and has recita- 
tion benches in front of the teacher’s desk. The easy ingress 
and egress afforded by the broad halls and stairs ; the large sep- 


Fig. 120. 



arate wardrobes for the two sexes ; the convenient position of 
the teacher’s desk with its large wall-space for the blackboard, 
are sufficiently apparent upon the plan. A recitation-room 
and a room for apparatus may be added on the rear, if desired, 
without changing the rest of the plan. 

The walls are of brick, eight inches thick, strengthened by 
pilasters (4X20 inches), which serve both for use and orna- 


* F. E. Graef, Architect, 56 Wall Street, New York. 



Chukcii and School-House. 157 

ment, as may bo seen by examining the plan and elevations. 
The inside of the walls is furred off as usual. The front part, 
under the hall and clothes-closets, is intended to be dug out for 
a coal and furnace cellar. A portable furnace, costing from 
$75 to $100, will heat the whole house, and is to be preferred 
to stoves. In addition to the opposite windows, which facili- 
tate ventilation during the warm season, ventilating shafts, 



terminating in a box on the roof, are indicated in the rear 
wall. The inside walls are to have two coats of plaster, and 
be wainscoted up to the windows all around. The roof may 
be covered with slate or shingles, as most convenient. Tho 
bell cupola, very appropriately a prominent ornamental and 
useful feature in school architecture, may be constructed of 
wood, as shown. Access to it may be had from the second- 
floor hall, by means of a step-ladder. The school-room fur- 
niture consists of double desks, about three and a half feet 
long, with stools. 




158 


The House. 


All school-liouses should, if possible, be constructed of solid 
materials — brick or stone — in so substantial a manner as to 
outlast all the other buildings in the town or village, and serve 
for the accommodation of many generations of children, whose 



Plan. 


prominent destructiveness they are better calculated to resist 
than any wooden building can be. 

The estimated cost of this school-house is within $1,700. 


APPENDIX 


A. 

HOW TO BUILD WITH BOUGH STONE. 

Let the quarrymen split it off just as the veins of the stone make it most 
easily worked. Select such pieces as, from their length and even quality, 
seem adapted for sills and lintels, and use the remainder just in the shape it 
naturally comes upon your ground from the quarry. In building your walls, 
lay the stone in its exact bed as it lay in the quarry, and here and there let 
long pieces be introduced, the length of the thickness of your walls ; these, 
lying across, would serve as bonders to the walls, and will materially strengthen 
the work. A wall built in this manner, in irregular courses, looks remarkably 
well for country buildings, and it is the method in which the time-honored 
rural churches of England have been built, than which more simply beautiful 
or more durable erections can not be found. — Gervase Wheeler. 


B. 

HOLLOW BEICK WALLS. 
Fig. 123. 



Fig. 123 shows a very simple and cheap mcde of buib'ing a hollow wall 
twelve inches wide, which answers very well for low additions, or walls in- 
tended to bear but little weight. An addition of another brick to the outside 
would make a good sixteen-incli wall. The tie-bricks alternate in the courses ; 
that is, the brick a is covered in the next course with the brick b (shown by 
the dotted lines) : c by <7, and so on through the whole.— Downing. 


160 


Appendix. 

0 . 

UNBURNT BRICK FOR BUILDING. 


The following particulars are compiled from the Report made by Mr. Ells- 
worth while Commissioner of Patents : 

Almost every kind of clay will answer ; it is tampered by treading it with 
cattle, and cut straw is added, at the rate of two bundles of straw to clay 
enough for one hundred bricks. It is then ready for molding. It is found 
that the most economical size for the bricks for building such cottages is the 
following, viz., one foot long, six inches wide, and four inches thick. 

The cellar or foundation must be formed of stone or burnt brick. 

In damp soils, the dampness should be prevented from rising from the soil 
into the unburnt wall by laying one course of slate, or of brick, laid in cement 
or hydraulic mortar, at the top of the foundation. 

The walls of the cottage are laid up one foot in thickness of the unburnt 
brick. This thickness is exactly the length of the brick, or the width of two 
bricks, and the strongest wall is made by laying the work with alternate 
courses of leaders and stretchers (i. e., one course with the bricks laid across 
the wall, the next course side by side). A weak mortar of lime and sand is 
generally used for laying the bricks, but a good brick mortar is preferable. 
Where lime is scarce, a mortar composed of three parts clay, one part sand, and 
two parts wood-ashes, answers very well as a substitute for lime mortar. The 
division walls may be six inches thick, just the width of the brick ; but when 
the cottage has rooms wider than twelve feet, it is better to make the first-story 
partitions two bricks thick. The doors and window-frames being ready to in- 
Bert, the cottage is very rapidly built. These frames are made of stout plank, 
of the exact thickness of the walls, so that the casing inside and outside helps 
to strengthen the wall and covers the joints. If lintels and sills of stone are 
not to be had, pieces of timber three inches thick, of the same width as the 
wall, and a foot longer on each side than the opening, may be used instead. 

The roof may be of shingles or thatch, and it is indispensable in a cottage 
of unburnt clay that it should project two feet all around, so as completely to 
guard the walls from vertical rains. The outside of the wall is plastered with 
good lime mortar mixed with hair, and then with a second coat, pebble- 
dashed, as in rough-cast walls. The inside of the wall is plastered and white- 
washed in the common way. 

Built in the simple way of the prairies, these cottages are erected for an in- 
credibly small sum, costing no more than log houses, while they are far more 
durable and agreeable in appearance. 

But we have also seen highly ornamental cottages built of this material, the 
bricks made entirely by the hands of the owner or occupant, and the whoie 
erected at a cost of not more than one half of that paid for the same cottage 
built in an equally comfortable manner of wood or brick. When plastered or 
roujrh-cast on the exterior, this mode of construction presents to the eye the 
same effect as an ordinary stuccoed house, while it is warmer and far less 
costly in repairs than any other cheap material is. 


Appendix. 

D. 

DE. BUCHANAN ON CELLAES 


161 


While I would condemn cellars and basements entirely, the common plan 
of building in their absence must be condemned also. The house being built 
above the surface of the earth, a space is left between the lower floor and the 
ground, which is even closer and darker than a cellar, and which becomes, on 
a smaller scale, the source of noxious emanations. Under-floor space should 
be abolished as well as cellars and basements. The plan that I have adopted 
with the most satisfactory success, to avoid all these evils, is the following: 
Let the house be built entirely above the ground ; let the lower floor be built 
upon the surface of the earth, at least as high as the surrounding soil. If filled 
up with any clean material a few inches above the surrounding earth, it would 
be better. A proper foundation being prepared, make your first floor by a 
pavement of brick, laid in hydraulic cement upon the surface of the ground. 
Let the same be extended into your walls, so as to cut off the walls of your 
house with water-proof cement from all communication with the moisture of 
the surrounding earth. Upon this foundation build according to your fancy. 
Your lower floor will be perfectly dry— impenetrable to moisture and to ver- 
min ; not a single animal can get a lodgment in your lower story. By adopt- 
ing this plan, your house will be dry and cleanly ; the atmosphere of your 
ground-floor will be fresh and pure ; you will be entirely relieved from that 
steady drain upon life which is produced by basements and cellars ; and if 
you appropriate the ground-floor to purposes of store-rooms, kitchens, etc., you 
will find that the dry apartments thus constructed are infinitely superior to the 
old basements and cellars. And if you place your sitting and sleeping rooms 
on the second and third floors, you will be as thoroughly exempt from local 
miasma as architecture can make you.— De. Buchanan. 


E. 

EECIPES FOE PAINTS, WASHES, STUCCO, ETC. 

1. Paints for Outside Work — The following recipes for mixing several de- 
sirable colors are from Wheeler’s “ Homes for the People:” 

1. A cool gray, similar to what would be the tint of unpainted timber after 
a few years, may be obtained as follows : 

Indian red, half a pound ; 

Lampblack, three ounces ; 

Kaw umber, half a pound ; 

White lead, one hundred pounds. 

This color will be changed by the addition of sand, which in all cases is 
recommended, in a proportion of about one quart to every one hundred pounds 
of mixed color. The finest and whitest sand that the neighborhood affords 
should be used, and as its hue <iiffers, so will the tint of the paint be changed 


162 


Appendix. 


This color, with one third less white, is very suitable for roofs, and is a cool, 
unreflecting gray tint of great softness and beauty. 

2. A soft, pleasant tint, like that of coffee greatly diluted with milk, is often- 
times well adapted to a building, particularly in regions where red sandstone 
or other similar objects, with such local coloring, give a brown hue to portions 
of the landscape. 

It may be mixed as follows : 

Yellow ochre, five pounds ; 

Burnt umber, half a pouifd ; 

Indian red, quarter of a pound ; 

Chrome yellow, No. 1, half a pound, with one hundred pounds of 
white lead. 

The key-notes in this color are the Indian red and the chrome yellow, and 
the tone may be heightened or lowered by more or less of either, as individual 
taste may prefer. 

3. A still more delicate tint, resembling the pure color of the Caen stone, and 
well adapted for a large building with many beaks of outlines, may be mixed 
thus : 

Yellow ochre, two pounds ; 

Vandyke brown, quarter of a pound; 

Indian red, quarter of a pound. 

Chrome yellow, No. 1, half a pound to every one hundred pounds of lead. 
The following cheap and excellent paint for cottages is recommended by 
Downing. It forms a hard surface, and is far more durable than common 
paint. It will be found preferable to common paint for picturesque country 
houses of all kinds. 

Take freshly-burned unslaked lime and reduce it to powder. To one peck 
or one bushel of this add the same quantity of fine white sand or fine coal ashes, 
and twice as much fresh wood ashes, all these being sifted through a fine sieve. 
They should then be thoroughly mixed together while dry. Afterward mix 
them with as much common linseed oil as will make the whole thin enough to 
work freely with a painter’s brush. 

This will make a paint of a light gray stone color, nearly white. 

To make it fawn or drab, add yellow ochre and Indian red ; if drab is de- 
sired, add burnt umber, Indian red, and a little black; if dark stone color, add 
lampblack ; or if brown stone, then add Spanish brown. All these colors 
should of course be first mixed in oil and then added. 

This paint is very much cheaper than common oil paint. It is equally well 
suited to wood, brick, or stone. It is better to apply it in two coats ; the first 
thin, the second thick. 

2. A Cheap Wash . — For the outside of wooden cottages, barns, out-build- 
ings, fences, etc., where economy must be consulted, the following wash is 
-ecommended : 

Take a clean barrel that will hold water. Put into it half a bushel of quick- 


Appendix. 


163 


lime, and slake it by pouring over it boiling water sufficient to cover it four or 
five inches deep, and stirring it until slaked. When quite slaked dissolve it 
in water, and add two pounds of sulphate of zinc and one of common salt, 
which may be had at any of the druggists, and which in a few days will cause 
the whitewash to harden on the woodwork. Add sufficient water to bring it 
to the consistency of thick whitewash. 

To make the above wash of a pleasant cream color, add three pounds of 
yellow ochre. 

For fawn color, add four pounds of umber, one pound of Indian red, and 
one pound of lampblack. 

For gray or stone color, add four pounds of raw umber and two pounds of 
lampblack. 

The color may be put on with a common whitewash brush, and will be found 
much more durable than common woitewash. — Horticulturist. 

For a wash for barns the Horticulturist also gives this : 

Hydraulic cement, one peck ; freshly slaked lime, one peck ; yellow ochre 
(in powder), four pounds; burnt umber, four pounds ; the whole to be “dis- 
solved” in hot water, and applied with a brush. 

3. Staining Interior Wood Work— One of the simplest and best modes of 
staining pine or other soft wood is the following as given by Downing : 

First prepare the wood by washing it with a solution of sulphuric acid, 
made by mixing it in the proportion of one ounce of sulphuric acid to a pint 
of warm water. It should be mixed when wanted and put on while warm, 
washing it evenly over every part to be stained. 

Second, stain the wood so prepared by rubbing it lightly with tobacco stain, 
using a piece of flannel or sponge for this purpose. By merely coating it 
evenly in this way the natural grain of the wood will assume a dark tone, so 
as to resemble black walnut or oak ; the effect of certain parts may be height- 
ened by a little skill in mottling or slightly graining the wood, by repeating 
the coat and allowing it to settle in places. 

When the stained wood is entirely dry, brush it over, in order to preserve it, 
with the following mixture : half a pound of beeswax, half a pint of linseed 
oil, and one pint of boiled linseed oil. 

It may, if desired, afterward be varnished and polished. To make the above 
to acco stain, take six pounds of common shag or “negro head” tobacco; boil 
it in as many quarts of water as will cover 'lie tobacco, letting it simmer away 
slowly till it is of the consistence of syrup. Strain it, and it is ready for use. 

We may add, that when it is desired to give the wood the tone of light oak or 
maple, the solution of sulphuric acid should be much weaker, and only a light 
coat of the stain should be used. Where a dark tone is preferred, two coats 
of the stain should be put on. 

4. Stucco and Stuccoing. — Take stone lime fresh from the kiln and of the 
best quality , such as is known to make a strong and durable mortar (like the 
Thomaston lime). Slake it by sprinkling or pouring over it just water enough 


164 


Appendix 


to leave it when slaked in the condition of a fine dry powder, and not a paste. 
Set up a quarter-inch wire screen at an inclined plane, and throw this powder 
against it. What passes through is fit for use. That which remains behind 
contains the core , which would spoil the stucco, and must be rejected. 

Having obtained the sharpest sand to be had, and having washed it, so that 
not a particle of the mud and dirt (which destroy the tenacity of most stuccoes) 
remains, and screened it to give some uniformity to the size, mix it with the 
lime in powder, in the proportion of two parts sand to one part lime. This is 
the best proportion for lime stucco. More lime would make a stronger stucco, 
but one by no means so hard— and hardness and tenacity are both needed. 

The mortar must now be made by adding water, and working it thoroughly. 
On the tempering of the mortar greatly depends its tenacity. 

The wall to be stuccoed should be first prepared by clearing off all loose dirt, 
mortar, etc., with a stiff broom. Then apply the mortar in two coats ; the first 
a rough coat, to cover the inequalities of the wall, the second as a finishing coat. 
The latter, however, should be put on before the former is dry, and as soon, 
indeed, as the first coat is sufficiently firm to receive it; the whole should then 
be well floated, troweled, and marked off; and if it is to be colored in water- 
color, the wash should be applied, so as to set with the stucco.— Downing. 

5. Rough- Cast. — The mode of putting on rough-cast is as follows : 

The surface of the wall being brushed off clean, lay on a coat of good lime 
and hair mortar. Allow this to dry, and then lay on another coat as evenly and 
smoothly as possible without floating. As soon as two or three years of the 
second coat are finished, have ready a pail of rough-cast, and splash or throw it 
on the wall. This is usually done by another workman, who holds the trowel 
with which he throws on the rough-cast in one hand, and a whitewash brush 
dipped constantly in the pail in the other, which follows the trowel until the 
whole is smooth and evenly colored. 

The rough-cast itself is made of sharp sand, washed clean, screened, and 
mixed in a large tub with pure, newly slaked lime and water, till the whole is 
in a semi-fluid state. A little yellow ochre mixed in the rough-cast gives the 
whole a slightly fawn-colored shade, more agreeable to the eye than white. — 
Downing. 


F. 

ROOFING. 

The following brief essay on roofing has been kindly furnished by a practi- 
cal builder, Mr. Richardson, who has had extensive experience in this special 
department, in various parts of the United States. His hints are valuable. 

The most important point to be observed in order to have a tight roof is, to 
use well-seasoned sheath in/. If it is tongued and grooved, so much the bet- 
ter. Have it well nailed. The best material to cover your roof with is state, 
if it is a steep roof. In the northern section of the United States and the Can- 
adas, it is well to put a layer of felt on the sheathing before slating, as it will 


Appendix 


165 


prevent the snow in winter and the rain in summer from driving under the 
slates. In the Middle States metallic roofing stands well ; but in the extreme 
South and North the expansion and contraction are so great, that it is almost 
impossible to have a tight roof, and it is only by giving them a coat of paint 
every other year that they answer at all. Copper, zinc, galvanized iron, and 
tin are the metals required for roofing purposes. Within a year or two, corru- 
gated galvanized iron has been introduced on many of the government build- 
ings, and has generally proved satisfactory. Its great cost will, however, ex- 
clude its extensive use among private buildings, as slate is better and costs 
less. One of the many improvements in the construction of buildings, at the 
present day, is the adaptation of the flat roof in place of the old-fashioned pitch 
roof. The many advantages gained in the number of better ventilated rooms, 
instead of the little, hot chambers of the old style, are so obvious, that no 
other argument would seem to be necessary to insure its universal adaptation, 
to say nothing of its great advantage in case of fire in the immediate neighbor- 
hood, or its use in a crowded city. 

Perhaps one word in regard to the many different “ patent roofing” materials 
now before the public may be of service. We have paid some attention to the 
merit claimed for each, and can safely recommend one, and that is “ Warren’s 
Improved Fire and Water-Proof Hoofing.” This article has stood the test of 
time, and is considered by many of the best architects and builders a better 
article for flat roofing than any metal. All insurance companies insure build- 
ings covered with this roofing at the same rate as slate. 

We have recently had an opportunity to examine some extensive warehouses 
in New Orleans, which have been covered with the roofing some five years, 
and it is apparently as good as the day it was put on. The fact that it has been 
extensively used in the North and the Canadas, for many years, adds greatly 
to our confidence in its intrinsic value. Recollect this fact— you can never have 
a tight roof, no matter what you cover it with, unless you use well-seasoned 
sheathing boards, and have them well nailed. 

G. 

HOW TO BUILD CONCRETE HOUSES. 

The following excellent practical directions are from the pen of Mr. D. Red- 
mond, of Georgia, editor of the Southern Cultivator and appeared originally 
in Life Illustrated : 

1. Location , etc.— Select, if possible, a dry situation, and get all heavy mate 
rials, such as rock, sand, lime, gravel, etc., on the spot as early in the season as 
possible, say by the first or middle of May, in order that you may avail yourself 
of the long, warm days of summer for successfully carrying on your operations. 

2. Materials.— The proper materials are lime, sand , coarse and fine gravel , 
large and small rock , and water. Tbe lime may be from any good, pure lime- 
stone that will slack readily, and “ set" or harden thoroughly when dry ;* the 


* The lime used by us is of a peculiar quality, known here as “ hydraulio 


166 


Appendix. 


sand should be sharp, and as free from clay, loam, and other earthy matter as 
possible ; and the gravel and rock may be of any size, from that of a boy’s 
marble up to eighteen inches or two feet square, according to the Sickness of 
your walls. 

3. Foundation. — Having fixed on your plan, lay off the foundat on, and dig 
a trench two feet wide and two feet deep, the area or full size of your outer 
wall. With a heavy piece of hard wood, squared or rounded at the lower end, 
pound or ram down the earth in the bottom of this trench, going over it re- 
peatedly, until it is solid and compact. A layer of hydraulic cement mortar, 
two inches thick, spread evenly over the bottom of the trenches thus compact- 
ed, gives you a solid foundation to start on, as soon as it “ sets ” or becomes 
hard. If you intend carrying up inside division walls of concrete, the founda- 
tion for these should be laid in the same way. Good hydraulic cement will 
take at least three parts of sharp sand ; but it must be used as soon as mixed, 
or it will “ set ” and become useless. 

4. Frame and Boxing. - Cut common 3x4 scantling two feet longer than you 
wish your highest story to be; set up a double row, with the lower end resting 
firmly upon the edge of the hardened cement in the bottom of the trench ; 
range them true and “ plumb” them, letting them stand three or four inches 
farther apart than you desire your wall to be in thickness ; then nail cleats 
across, above and below, to keep them in place, adding also “stays” or 
“ braces,” driven slantingly into the ground and nailed to the scantling at the 
upper end. Your skeleton or frame- work of scantling being all set up and 
“ stayed” firm and “ plumb,” proceed to arrange your “ boxing” for holding 
the concrete and keeping the walls in shape. This is done by cutting sound 
inch or inch-and-a-half plank of ten inches or a foot wide, so as to fit inside of 
the two rows o f scantling and form two sides of a box. Movable pieces the 
thickness of the wall are dropped in between, at intervals, to keep the box of 
the proper width, and wedges driven in between the boxing and the scantling, 
on the outside, prevent spreading by the pressure of the concrete. Wooden 
“clamps” to slip down, here and there, over the upper edges of the boxing, 
will also be found very serviceable. 

5. Mixing Concrete , Laying up, etc.— It will be well to have at least four 
large mortar beds, one on each side of the hous^, made of strong plank, in the 
usual way. These should be surrounded by casks of water (oil casks cut in 
two are excellent), piles of rock, sand, gravel, etc.— the lime, of course, to be 
kept under cover, and used as wanted. Slack up your lime until it forms a 
thin, smooth, creamy mass, then add four or five parts of clean, sharp sand, 
stirring and mixing constantly, and using water enough to bring the whole, 
when thoroughly mingled, to the consistency of a thick batter. Into this “ bat- 
ter” mix coarse and fine gravel (that has previously been screened) until the 
mass is thick enough to be lifted on a common shovel. [The proper and 


lime ” — not the cement, which is, also, often called “ hydraulic.” It may be 
obtained from the quarry of Kev. C. W. Howard, Kingston, Cass County, Ga. 
But good common lime will answer, where the “hydraulic” can not be had. 


Appendix. 


167 


thorough mixing of the sand with the lime, and the gravel with the mortar 
afterward, is very important, and should only be intrusted to your most careful 
hands.] Having one or two “ beds” full of this mixture, you are ready to begiD 
your wall. Wheel the mortar to the foundation in common railroad wheelbar- 
•ows, letting the common hands shovel it into the bottom of the trenches, while 
the superintendent or “boss” workman spreads it evenly with his trowel 
When the bottom layer of mortar, three inches thick, is laid in, wheel large 
and sma 1 rock (previously sprinkled with water) to the wall, and press it int* 
the soft mortar at every available point, leaving a small space between each 
piece of rock, and working the soft mortar against the plank boxing, to pre- 
»erve a smooth surface on the Avail. When you can press no more rock into 
.'he mortar, pour another layer of <lhe latter over and through the rock, then 
add a layer of rock, as before, and so on, until your boxing all round is full. 
You have now ten inches or a foot of wall, all around, built ; and if the lime is 
good and the weather dry, it will be hard enough in twenty-four hours to raise 
your boxes another tier. This is readily done by knocking out the wedges be- 
tween the plank and lhe scantling, raising up the plank and sustaining it in 
place by “ cleats” nailed on the scantling. In raising the boxing, begin at the 
point where you commenced laying up the day previous, as that portion of the 
wall will, of course, be the hardest. It is not necessary to raise all the boxing 
at once, or go entirely round the wall in a day. A foot or a yard of the Avail can 
be completed at a time, if advisable ; but if the complete round can be made, 
so much the better. Planks to cover up Avith, in case of a sudden shower, or 
when a storm is apprehended, should be provided, and placed within reach. 

G. General Details, Floors , Windows, Doors , etc . — We prefer a cement floor 
for the basement, on many accounts; but those who desire a wooden floor 
should leave air-holes in the outer walls, under the loAver floor, six inches 
above the surface. This may be easily done by inserting wedge-shaped blocks 
or pins through the wall, to be knocked out afterward. When you are ready 
to lay. the floors, level up your walls, and run one course of brick all around, 
the thickness of the wall, for the ends of the flooring-joists to rest on— filling 
in around these ends with concrete, when they are fixed in their proper places. 
The door and window frames should be made of three-inch yellow pine, the 
full thickness or width of the walls, and may be set up and built around, like 
those in a brick house, as the wall progresses. X piece of common inch plank, 
“cut in” all around them, to prevent the actual contact of the damp moriar, 
will keep them, in a great measure, from warping. Where base-boards are 
needed, blocks of scantling may be built in flush with the inner surface of the 
wall, at the proper distances apart. 

H. 

PRACTICAL HINTS BY A BUILDER. 

1. The Roof .— No roof should project less than one foot— it may project as 
much as you like up to two feet. 


168 


Appendix. 


Too often, at present, in the commoner kind of country houses, the roof-boards 
are cut off even with the sides and ends of the honse, and the shingles allowed 
to project only half an inch ! What happens ? All the rain that falls upon it 
runs over the entire surface of the house, discoloring the paint and washing it 
away. 

2. Windows . — There should be a bold projection over each window, instead 
of the single inch which the cap, so called, is now generally allowed to extend 
beyond the casing. The slight projection furnishes no protection to the sash, 
which is continually washed by the rain, and prematurely decays. 

The casings or dressings of the windows are generally too narrow. They 
should never be less than three and a half inches, and may be wider if you like. 
Let the head or top piece be an inch and a half wider than the sides. One and 
a quarter inches is the proper thickness for all outside casings. For caps, one- 
and-three-fourth-inch plank (one-and-a- half-inch will do) should be used. 
They should be six inches wide. Reduce one edge to the thickness of an 
inch. Nail the cap upon the edge of the top casing, and against the frame of 
the house, and it will form a bold and efficient projection. 

3. Gutters . — Let the ends of the rafters come out flush with the side of the 
frame. To these and to the plate are nailed the brackets, cut from one-and-a- 
quarter-inch stuff, which are to support the gutter. The brackets should pro- 
ject one foot, and be lined with inch boards for trimming. The outside must 
be covered with dressed stuff of the proper style. There must be a frieze or 
margin, running the entire length of the house, under the gutter, and also on 
the gable. It may vary in width, on different houses, from ten to twenty 
inches. — A. Blauvelt. 

I. 

SPECIFICATIONS FOR COTTAGE. 

See Figs. 20, 21, 22, 23. 

Size, Height, etc.— For all dimensions and the general arrangement, reference 
is to be had to the plans and elevations (pp. 59-61). Cellar to be 5} 
feet high - 3 feet below ground and 2f above. First floor to be 8 feet in 
height, clear, and the attic 7 2 L feet, clear, with 5^ feet breast work. 
Digging. — The digging includes the cellar, trenches for the foundations, and 
a water cistern 5 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep. 

Stone Work.— Trenches to be filled with good stone. Sills for cellar win- 
dows to be blue stone, 2 x 10 inches. 

Brick Work.— Cellar and foundation walls to be 8 inches thick. The fire- 
places and the top of the chimney above the roof to be of hard brick, 
laid up in good sharp sand and lime mortar. Walls of the cistern to be 
4 inches thick, laid in cement, the sides and bottom to be well cemented. 
Plastering. — All rooms, landings, and closets to be lathed, scratch- coated, 
browned, and whitewashed. 

Timber.— Sills to be 4 x 9 ; first tier of beams, 2x9; posts, 4 x 8 ; all to be of 


Appendix. 


169 


white pine. Enter-ties, 4x6; second tier of beams, 2x8; fllling-in, 
studs, braces, and rafters, 3x4; all to be of hemlock. Cellar beams, 1$ x 4 
spruce plank. Beams and rafters to be 2 feet from centers ; studding, 16 
^inches from centers. 

Roofs.— T o be lathed with I}x2 spruce strips, and covered with 2 feet cypress 
shingles, laid Tj inches to the weather. 

Inclosing. — To be done with pine boards f inch thick: and about 8 inches 
wide, nailed horizontally to studs, with 1£ inch lap. 

Partitions.— A ll partitions to be set with 2x4 hemlock strips, 16 inches from 
centers. 

Furring.— Hemlock furring strips to be used between the beams. 

Floors.— T hese are to be laid with li inch mill-worked spruce plank. 

Stairs.— The stairs are to have li inch pine trees, li inch strings, ^and 1 inch 
risers, with plain, small balusters, and hand-rail of boxwood. 

Doors.— The doors for the first floor to be li inch shingle-faced panel, and 
those of the attic to be li inch battened; all to be well hung, and pro- 
vided with rim locks, except the closet doors, which are to have catches. 

Windows. — To have the usual li inch plank frames, li inch sashes with im- 
proved catches, and to be glazed with plain American glass. 

. Blinds.— A ll the windows to have plain Yenetian blinds. 

Painting.— T wo coats of white lead or zinc paint to be put on to all the outside, 
and inside work generally painted. 

General. — Inside doors and window casings to be 4i inches wide, with back 
moldings to first story. Gutters to be of tin (3i inch), with proper lead- 
ers. For details of outside cornice, trimmings, porch, etc., consult a 
builder or architect. 


J. 

HOW TO BUILD BALLOON FRAMES. 

The following is a report of some remarks made by Mr. Solon Robinson be- 
fore the Farmers' Club of the American Institute, and first published in the 
New York Tribune of January ISth, 1855: 

Mr. Robinson said : At our last meeting I made s<>me remarks, wh ; ch were 
followed by others, upon the subject of “Balloon Frames” of dwellings and 
other public buildings, a slight sketch of which I published in The Tribune , 
not deeming it important to enter into the minutim of hours to make such 
buildings. I find that I did not appreciate the importance of the subject, for 
I have received a score of letters and personal inquiries from various parts of 
the country, showing that a great many farmers would like to know how to 
build a farm-house for half the present expense. I therefore ask the indul- 
gence of the Club, while I start a balloon from the foundation and finish it to 
the roof. I would saw all my timber for a frame-house, or ordinary frame 
outbuilding, of the following dimensions : Two inches by eight ; two by four ; 
two by one. I have, however, built them, when I lived on the Grand Prairie 
8 


170 


Appendix 


of Indiana, many miles from saw-mills, nearly all of split and hewed stuff, 
making use of rails or round poles, reduced to straight lines an I even thickness 
on two sides, for studs and rafters. But sawed stuff is much the easiest, tj^ugh 
in a timber country the other is far the cheapest. First, level your foundation, 
and lay down two of your two-by-eight pieces, flatwise, for sidewalls. Upon 
these set the floor-sleepers, on edge, thir y-tvyo inches apart. Fasten one at 
each end, and, perhaps, one or two in the middle, if the building is large, 
with a wooden pin. These end-sleepers are the end-sills. Now lay the flo r, 
unless you design to have one that would be likely to be injured by the weather 
before you get the roof on. It is a great saving, though, of labor, to begin at 
the bottom of a house and build up. In laying the floor firs f , you have no 
studs to cut and fit around, and can let your boards run out over the ends, 
just as it happens, and afterward saw them off smooth by the sill. Now set up 
a corner post, which is nothing but one of the two-by-four studs, fastening the 
bottom by four nails; make it plumb, and stay it each way. Set another at 
the other corner, and then mark off - your door and window places, and set up 
the side studs and put in the frames. Fill up with studs between, sixteen 
inches apart, supporting the top by a line or strip of board from corner to cor- 
ner, or stayed studs between. Now cover that side with rough sheeting boards, 
unless you intend to side-up with clap-boards on the studs, which I never 
would do, except for a small, common building. Make no calculation about 
the top of your studs ; wait till you get up that high. You may use them of 
any length, with broken or stub-shot ends, no matter. When you have got 
this side boarded as high as you can reach, proceed to set up another. In the 
mean time, other workmen can be lathing the first side. When you have got 
the sides all up, fix upon the height of your upper floor, and strike a line upon 
the studs for the under side of the joist. Cut out a joist four inches wide, half- 
inch deep, and nail on firmly one of the inch strips. Upon these strips rest the 
chamber floor joist. Cut out a joist one inch deep, in the lower edge, and 
lock it on the strip, and nail each joist to each stud. Now lay this floor, and 
go on to build the upper story, as you did the lower one ; splicing on and 
lengthening out studs wherever needed, until you get high enough for the 
plate. Splice studs or joist by simply butting the ends together, and nailing 
strips on each side. Strike a line and saw off the top of the studs even upon 
each side— not the ends— and nail on one of the inch strips. That is the 
plate. Cut the ends of the upper joist the bevel of the pitch of the roof, and 
nail them fast to the plate, placing the end ones inside the studs, which you 
will let run up promiscuously, to be cut off by the rafter. Now lay the garret- 
floor by all means before you put on the roof, and you will find that you have 
saved fifty per cent, of hard labor. The rafters, if supported so as not to be 
over ten feet long, will be strong enough of the two-by-four stuff. Bevel the 
ends and nail fast to the joist. Then there is no strain upon the sides by the 
weight of the roof, which may be covered with shingles or other materials— 
the cheapest being composition or cement roofs. To make one of this kind, 
take soft, spongy, thick paper, and tack it upon the boards in courses like 
shingles. Commence at the top with hot tar and saturate the paper, upon 


Appendix 


171 


which sift evenly fine gravel, pressing it in while hot— that is, while tar and 
gravel are both hot. One coat will make a tight roof; two coats will make it 
more durable. Put up your partitions of stuff one by four, unless where you 
want to support the upper joist — then use stuff two by four, with strips nailed 
on top, for the joist to rest upon, fastening altogether by nails, wherever tim- 
bers touch. Thus you will have a frame without a tenon, or mortice, or brace, 
and yet it is far cheaper, and incalculably stronger when finished, than 
though it was composed of timbers ten inches square, with a thousand auger 
holes and a hundred days’ work with the chisel and adze, making holes and 
pins to fill them. 

To lay out and frame a building so that all its parts will come together, re- 
quires the skill of a master mechanic, and a host of men, and a deal of hard 
work to lift the great sticks of timber into position. To erect a balloon-building 
requires about as much mechanical skill as it does to build a board fence. Any 
farmer who is handy with the saw, iron square, and hammer, with one of his 
boys or a common laborer to assist him, can go to work and put up a frame for 
an outbuilding, and finish it off with his own labor, just as well as to hire a car- 
penter to score and hew great oak sticks, and fill them full of mortices, all by 
the science of the “ square rule.” It is a waste of labor that we should all lend 
our aid to put a stop to. Besides, it will enable many a farmer to improve his 
place with new buildings, who, though he has long needed them, has shud- 
dered at the thought of cutting down half of the best trees in his wood-lot, and 
then giving half a year’s work to hauling it home, and paying for what I do 
know is the wholly useless labor of framing. If it had not been for the knowl- 
edge of balloon-frames, Chicago and San Francisco could never have arisen, 
as they did, from little villages to great cities in a single year. It is not alone 
city buildings, which are supported by one another, that may be thus erected, 
but those upon the open prairie, where the wind has a sweep from Mackinaw 
to the Mississippi, for there they are built, and stand as firm as any of the old 
frames of New England, with posts and beams sixteen inches square. These 
remarks were confirmed by the testimony of other members present, who tes- 
tified to having adopted the mode of framing referred to with entire success. 

K. 

CISTERNS. 

On this important subject we can not do better than copy the following article 
from the “ Annual Register of Rural Affairs,” for 1855 : 

“The great value of an abundant supply of w«ter to houses and barns, and 
which may be easily had by providing capacious cisterns, renders it import- 
ant that the cheapest, best, and most convenient mode of construction should 
be adopted. The two all-essential requisites for underground cisterns are, 
good hydraulic lime and a supply of clear, pure sand. These must be selected 
from experience or trial, or by choosing such as have already proved efficient 
for this purpose. Good hydraulic cement will, in the course of a few mouths, 
become as bard as sandstone. 


172 


Appendix. 


Fig. 124. 


“ When this hardening process does not take place, it must be attributed to 
bad materials, or to intermixing in wrong proportions. On the latter point, 
some are misled by adopting the practice employed in mixing common lime 

mortar, the hardest ma- 
terial resulting in this case 
where the sand constitutes 
about five sixths of the 
whole. But the hardest 
water -lime mortar can not 
be made if the sand forms 
much more than two 
thirds of the whole. 

“A very common and 
cheap form for the cistern 
is, to dig a round hole into 
the ground with sloping 
sides, somewhat in the 
form of a narrow-bottom- 
ed tub, and then to plaster 
immediately upon the 
earth (fig. 124). Unless a 
slope is given to the sides, the mortar can not be made to keep its place while 
soft, as it is nearly impossible to find a soil dry and hard enough to retain the 
plastering by simple adhesion. The top of this kind of cistern must therefore 
be wide, and consequently difficult to cover very large ones effectually and sub- 



Fig. 125. 


stantially. The covering 
is usually made of stiff and 
durable plank, supported, 
if necessary, by tdrong 
scantling, and over this is 
placed about one foot of 
earth to exclude complete- 
ly the frost. A hole with 
a curb about eighteen 
inches by two feet, must 
be left in this covering, for 
the admission of the water 
pipe or pump, and to al- 
low a man to enter for 
cleaning out the cistern 
when necessary. In cold 
or freezing weather, it is 
indispensably requisite to 
have this hole stopped, to 
exclude frost, which would otherwise enter the wet cement or walls, and pro- 
duce cracking or leakage— a frequent cause of the failure of water-lime cisterns. 
“ This is the cheapest form of such reservoirs, but a better, more capacious. 



Appendix. 


173 


and more durable mode, is to dig the hole with perpendicular sides in the form 
of a barrel, and build the walls with stone or brick, to receive the plastering 
(fig. 125). In consequence of its circular form, operating like an arch, these 
walls will not be in danger of falling if not more than half the ordinary thick- 
ness of similar walls. For large cisterns they should be thicker than for small 
ones. The walls should be built perpendicular until about half way up, when 
each successive layer should be contracted so as to bring them nearer together, 
in the form of an arch, reducing the size of the opening at the top, and ren- 
dering a smaller covering necessary. If the subsoil is always dry or never 
soaked or flooded with water, the walls may be laid in common lime mortar, 
and afterward plastered on the inner surface with the cement. But in wet sub- 
soils, the whole wall should be laid in water lime. If the bottom is hard earth 
or compact gravel, a coating of an inch or two may be spread immediately 
upon the earth bottom ; but in other instances, the bottom should be first laid 
with flat stone, or paved with round ones, the cement spread upon these. 

“The plastering upon the sloping earth-walls, as first described (fig. 124), 
should never be less than an inch thick, and if the earth is soft it should be 
more. On the stone or hard brick walls (fig. 125), half an inch will be thick 
enough. Cisterns can rarely, if ever, be made free from leaking, without giv- 
ing them at least two successive coats— and three will be safer ; the previous 
coat in each instance being allowed to become dry and hard.” 

A filtering cistern may be made as follows : 

“ Make a partition (a) in the cistern, dividing it into two portions. This 
partition is pierced at the 
bottom with several aper- 
tures. A low wall (5) is 
built up on each side the 
partition, and a few inches 
above the top of the aper- 
tures. 

“ The open space between 
these low walls (c) is fil ed 
with charcoal broken fine, 
and with gravel— the latter 
being on top. The water is 
conducted into one apartment, and may always be drawn up bright and clear 
from the other. The accompanying section, to which the letters have refer- 
ence, may help to make this account more intelligible.”* 

Another plan is thus described by the same writer : 

“A cask holding perhaps a hundred gallons is placed by the side of the 
larger cistern, and quite near the surface of the ground. An aperture in its 
bottom, over which is secured a large sponge, is connected by a good-sized 
pipe of wood or clay with the main tank. A 'third part of the cask is now 
filled with the charcoal and gravel ; the conductor from the house is led into 
it, and the thing is complete. 


1 ig. 12G. 



* Village and Farm Cottages. 


174 


Appendix 


“ This mode is not only as easy and as cheap as the other, but has this great 
advantage, that the filterer can be often and readily cleaned, while in the 
other case, it is necessary to remove all the water and to go down deep in 
order to accomplish the work.” 


L. 

A CHEAP ICE-EOOM. 

A farmer communicates the following in Life Illustrated : 

“ I send you ray experience. I partitioned off the northeast corner of my 
wood-house, which opens to the west, and is 25 feet wide. The ice-room is 
about nine feet square ; is clap-boarded on the studs on the north and east, 
and lined on the inside, leaving the four-inch space between empty. On the 
south is an inch-board partition, just tight enough to hold saw-dust. On the 
west I slip in boards like bars, any height I wish to pile my ice, and leave the 
upper part open, just as is convenient. This is my house. 

“ Into it, on the ground, I put from six to ten inches of saw-dust, then put 
in my ice one foot from the partition on every side, packing it in as closely as 
I can, and in as large blocks as I can conveniently handle. I then fill the 
spaces next the partitions Avith saw-dust, and a good depth (say one foot) over 
the top, and it is done for the year. 

“ I have practiced in this way tAvo years past, and had all 1 wanted for dairy 
and other uses, and to give to my neighbors. 

“ The whole cost of making is 300 feet of hemlock boards, a few nails, and a 
half a day’s work. Neighbor farmers, try it. Almost any other location is as 
good as this.” 


INDEX 


A. Page 

Ancient Log Cabin 10 

Architecture, Fundamental Prin- 
ciples of 14 

“ Style of. 25 

Architectural Finery 67 

Additions, Plans for 52 

Attic Booms 67 

Ash and Smoke House 146 

Apiary 150 

B. 

Building for Show 60 

Barns 129 

Bee House 150 


F. 

Fundamental Principles. . . 

F arm House, Model 

“ “ Plan of 

“ Houses, Eemarks on 

G. 

Garden House 


H. 

House, Origin of . . . 
“ Meaning of . 
“ Extempore . 

House-Building 

Hexagon Plan 


14 

100 

102 

99 


152 


C. 


Concrete SI 

Chimneys 33 

Cottages of One Story Defined. . . 45 
“ Story-and-a-Half “ ... 57 

Cottage, Southern 49 

“ Plan of Cheap 51 

“ “ Small 57 

“ An Italian 58 

“ English Plan 61 

“ Suburban - 62 

“ A Gothic 64,73 

“ A Symmetrical 68 

“ A Semi-Southern. . .. 71 

“ “ Fruitland” 79 

“ Square S6 

“ Swiss 95 

Country House, Stone 89 

“ Church 153 

Circular House .' 92 

“ Barn 136 

Church, Country 153 

D. 

Details, Miscellaneous 82 

Drainage 42 

Doors 52 


I. 

Ice-House 147 

L. 

Log Cabin 46 

M. 

Materials 28 


O. 

Octagon Plan, S. H. Mann’s 83 

“ Villa 125 

“ Barns 132 

“ Poultry House 143 

“ Piggery 145 

P. 

Plan, Adoption of 19 

Painting 40, 55 

Paper, Wall 41 

Plans for Three Booms 48 

Parsonage 75 

Play House 151 


E. 


Errors and Absurdities 48 

English Cottage Plan 61 


Booms, Arrangement of 22 

Booting 42 

Bough-Cast 42 


176 


Index 


I'AGH | 


T. Page 


Eats in Cellars 
Bound House . 


55 

92 


Trees, etc. . 


S. 

Site, Choice of 

Style of Architecture 

Stucco 

Southern Cottage 

“ House 

“ Yilla 

Stone Country House 

Swiss Cottage 

Side Hill Barn 

Stables 

Smoke House and Ashery. 

Speaking Tubes 

School House 


.. 16 
.. 25 

.. 42 
.. 19 

.79, 83 
.. 118 
.. 89 


.. 95 
.. 138 
. . 141 
.. 146 
.. 61 
.. 156 


y. 

Ventilation 36, 67 

Verandas 51 

Villa, What is it ? 105 

“ Small Italian 106 

« Brick 1'8 

“ Gothic H 1 

“ Picturesque 114 

“ Southern 118 

“ Octagon 125 


W. 

Warming • 84 

Water Closets 55 






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